


When Evan Met Astra

by logans_girl2001



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Past Domestic Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 00:37:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 47,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17213855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/logans_girl2001/pseuds/logans_girl2001
Summary: The story of how Evan met his wife Astra.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Back in 2007 I started playing in a SG-1/SGA RPG as Evan Lorne. That one eventually closed and others started up. In the game there was an OC named Astra Owen who was Evan's former lover. The person who played Astra and I became friends and when she opened her own RPG in 2009 I agreed to continue to play Evan to her Astra. This is the story of how they ended up together.

While on my way to Hammond's office after my latest mission, I decide go over my report one last time. I've been with the SGC long enough that I feel fairly confident walking the halls while reading my report. Besides, I've done it before and have yet to run into anyone. Until today, that is.

Turning the final corner to Hammond's office, I suddenly find myself flat on my back, staring up into the palest green eyes I've ever seen, my arms wrapped around some of the softest curves in the galaxy, amid a shower of papers.

It takes me a moment to turn my attention away from the plump breasts flattened against my chest and when I do, I instantly wish I hadn't. The woman in my arms is ranting in some language I don't know. Based on the way she's pushing against my shoulders and the angry look on her face she's not too happy to be where she is.

"Next time, I'll let _you_ break _my_ fall," I snap, loosening my grip so she can get up. When she does her knee finds a spot right next to my crotch and I'm not entirely sure it was accidental. Groaning at the pain, I shove her roughly away and curl up into a ball, my hands cupped protectively around my most sensitive area.

"And here I was, defending all Americans," she starts muttering in a thick Australian accent. "Everywhere I go people tell me that Americans are rude and insufferable. But I have always been treated with nothing but respect from everyone I've had contact with since I got here. Until now, that is."

I roll to my knees, then jump to my feet when she picks my report up with the papers she had been carrying. "Wait!" I call, reaching out to grab her arm and stop her from walking away. "You got my report mixed up with your stuff."

She gives me a look that has a shiver of fear tripping down my spine before sticking her nose in the air and sniffing loudly. "Are you calling me a thief, Major?" she demands, her tone so dry it's a fire hazard.

"No, ma'am," I instantly reply. "It's just that you picked up my report by mistake along with all your papers. It wouldn't be that big a deal if it weren't for the fact that I'm already late turning it in to General Hammond."

Spying my report in the bundle of papers she's currently trying to stuff into the notebook she's carrying, I step forward to gently tug it out of her grip. 

"Hey!" she exclaims, acting as if I'm gonna make her drop everything.

"This… is… mine," I explain, punctuating each word with a tug on the paper, then breathe a sigh of relief when I manage to liberate it from her grasp without causing her to drop any of her papers.

"Rude. Totally r-u-d-e," she mutters under her breath, along with something I don't understand, while she's turning to continue down the hall, so I just pretend I didn't hear it.

With an indifferent shrug, I resume making my way to Hammond's office, putting the whole encounter from my mind.

"Major?" Hammond questions when I knock on the frame of his open door.

"Just turning in my report, Sir," I say, handing him the report.

He raises a brow. "It's late, Major," he informs me, his tone brooking no argument.

"Yes, Sir, I know and I'm sorry. Doc Fraiser kept me longer than I wanted."

"I hear she had good reason to keep you in 'lock-down' for the length of time she did," he replies with a chuckle.

I fight the urge to duck my head and stare at the floor while scuffing my toe on the carpet but I can't keep the blush from rising up my neck and staining my face red. "Yes, Sir, she did at that." My voice _definitely_ did not break. "It's all in my report, Sir."

_God, please let him dismiss me now!_

"Very well, Major. I look forward to reading it. It'll be interesting to see how your version of the events compares to those of the rest of SG-10."

"Yes, Sir. Very good, Sir," I respond in my best 'I'm a perfect solider' voice, praying he'll dismiss me now so I can go get drunk and forget I ever heard of P3X-814.

The look on Hammond's face tells me he's fighting the urge to laugh. As if being painted _purple_ , of all colors, and _married_ to the only other unattached member of the team is a laughing matter.

"If that's _all_ , _Sir_?" I ask stressing the last two words in the hopes he'll catch my desire to leave.

"That's all, Major. Dismissed," he answers amusement still heavy in his voice, with a small salute.

Returning the salute, I do an about-face and leave his office, and the base, as quickly as I can without actually running.

Several days later Hammond calls me into his office.

"You needed to see me, Sir?" I query, stepping just inside the door. My back instantly stiffens to attention at the sight of Colonel Edwards sitting in one of the chairs in front of Hammond's desk.

"Yes, Major, I do," Hammond replies waving me further in with one hand. "Come in and have a seat."

I do as ordered, perching nervously on the edge of the chair.

"Relax, Major," Colonel Edwards soothes a gentle smile on his face. "Hammond here," he nods in the General's direction, "has been telling me all about you and how you'd make an excellent XO."

I blink at the two of them. "Me? An XO?" I ask in stunned disbelief.

"Yes, Major," Hammond replies, his slow tone indicating that he is, once again finding humor at my expense.

"But…I…" I stammer slumping back in the chair in shocked surprise. "I…never…"

"Never, Major?" Edwards questions, one brow raised in doubt. "I find that hard to believe in a career military man such as you."

"Beg your pardon, Colonel, but I only joined the Air Force so I could fly the best and fastest craft known to man. Something I did in Iraq brought me to the attention of some muckity-muck in DC who decided I was just perfect for the Stargate program," I inform them. "Not that I'm complaining, Sirs. I enjoy the adventure of stepping through the gate very much and am infinitely appreciative of the opportunity," I hasten to add at the expressions on their faces. "But I never wanted to be more than a pilot."

When Edwards' stare turns to steel I just about trip over my tongue to assure him "I am very grateful you want me for your XO, Sir and I promise to be the best one I can be."

"Excellent!" Edwards exclaims rubbing his hands together. "I trust the Major's transfer papers are all in order?" he asks Hammond.

"You know they are," Hammond replies a bit snippily which has my eyebrows rising because I've never seen the General like this.

Edwards doesn't even try to hide the triumphant smile that crosses his face at Hammond's tone. "So, Major," he begins turning to me. "Take the rest of the week off and I'll see you bright and early Monday in the briefing room. Dismissed."

The next several months are…interesting to say the least. Most of my day for the first weeks is spent getting to know Colonel Edwards' personality, how he likes things done and, most important, what decisions I can make on my own and which ones need his final say.

Once I have his way of leading down, and am comfortable with it, I spend the next weeks learning about the men under me. Mostly I spend my time showing them I'm one of them and that they can trust me with anything and everything. I think 'winning' over the men is harder than learning to be at ease with Edwards.

By the time I'm completely settled into my new position as Edwards' XO, a sizable amount of naquadah is discovered on P3X-403. Everything is just fine until three months in.

"God…three months on this rock and I still can't get a decent cup of coffee," Edwards complains with a grimace when I approach where he's _trying_ to enjoy his morning cup.

"Core sample analysis still coming in, but so far ... highest concentration is 2.3 parts per million," I say a bit smugly.

"2.3 parts ..." Edwards says thoughtfully, turning to face me and I nod my head. "Major Lorne, we need enough naquadah to manufacture 303s. You know how big a battle cruiser is?" 

"It's… pretty big, Sir." 

"Hmm ... if we start mining these deposits right now, today, your great-grandchildren are still gonna be trying to pull out enough ore just to make one." _Well, damn._ Here I was thinking we'd hit the jackpot when we hadn't.

Before I can even form a reply to that, Lieutenant Menard walks up, excited, carrying a printout. "Colonel Edwards?" He salutes and from where I'm standing next to him I can feel him vibrating in place. I rub my hand over my chin to hide my grin. Won't do for the men to think I'm amused by their excitement.

"Menard ..." Edwards acknowledges him by lifting his cup. 

"You're gonna want to see this, Sir. Latest sample analysis shows a concentration fifty times higher than anything we've seen so far ... and-and it's increasing as we go deeper." He pauses to fiddle with his glasses. "This could be the one, Sir!" Menard is like an excitable little puppy. All eager to show off his newest trick.

Edwards takes the printout and looks it over. "Yeah. If this pans out, your great-grandchildren might just be off the hook." He looks up at me, his face as serious as ever.

"Yes, Sir." I can't keep the pleased smile off my face. A smile that Edwards returns.

A couple of hours later the newest member of our team, a Captain Miller, comes running up to where I'm eating lunch. "Major Lorne?" He sounds scared. Being the newest member of our team he has yet to figure out that I _never_ shoot the messenger.

"Yes, Captain?" I put down my sandwich and wipe my hands on a napkin.

Miller takes a deep breath and tells me his news. "Lieutenant Ritter is missing."

"Missing?" _How can that be?_

"Yes, Sir, missing," he confirms with a nod.

"How long? And from where?" I demand, getting to my feet, my lunch forgotten.

"He was taking some scans of a clearing to the south. He didn't return for chow and we can't raise him on his radio."

"Has anyone been to his last known position?"

"Yes, Sir. There were signs of a struggle and tracks leading off into the woods."

"Gather as many men as you can and start a search and rescue," I bark orders, marching toward Edwards' tent. "I'll inform the Colonel." This is a conversation I am _so not_ looking forward to.

Pausing just outside Edwards' tent, I take a moment to collect my thoughts and figure out exactly what I need to tell him. "Colonel?" I call and wait for permission to enter.

He glances up from the report he's reading and waves me inside. "What can I do for you, Major?"

Clearing my throat, I settle into parade rest with my hands clasped behind my back. "Captain Miller just informed me that Lieutenant Ritter is missing, Sir."

His eyebrows climb his forehead. "Missing?"

"Yes, Sir. He was surveying a clearing south of here and when he didn't return for chow and didn't answer on his radio, Miller went to check on him and found signs of a struggle and tracks leading off into the woods. I told Miller to gather some men and begin an S&R."

"Very good," Edwards praises and dismisses me by returning his attention to the report he had been reading. "Is there anything else?" he asks when he notices I have yet to leave his tent.

Shifting slightly because what I'm about to suggest just might have me stepping over the line of what advice I'm allowed to give. "Permission to speak freely, Sir?"

"Of course, Major."

"I suggest we ask the SGC to send SG-1, if they're not currently off-world or grounded. They have more experience with S&R than we do. Especially Colonel O'Neill."

"This is true. But if I recall correctly you were involved with several successful S&Rs in Iraq."

I duck my head to hide the blush and grin that always pops up at hearing a superior talk about my past missions, well the successful ones that is. "Yes, but from the air, Sir. O'Neill has experience searching from the ground."

"I picked you as my XO because I trust your judgment, Major. If you think we need SG-1, then ask Hammond to send them."

"Very good, Sir."

While heading to the MALP to call the SGC for our scheduled check-in, I rehearse what I'm going to say. Stopping in front of the DHD I dial Earth and watch the wormhole bloom to life. Once the event horizon has settled down to crystal blue ripples, I activate the radio on the MALP and request to speak with Hammond.

_"Major Lorne,"_ Hammond brings my attention back to the present. _"How are things?"_

"Well, Sir, things could be better. We found extremely large deposits of naquadah."

_"I consider that very good news, Major. Why do you think things could be better?"_

"Well, Sir, one of the men, a Lieutenant Ritter, is missing. We have evidence of a struggle and him being dragged off into the woods. We've searched about as much as we can but we're not trained in S&R. Colonel Edwards would like to request the help of SG-1, if they are available."

_"If I remember correctly, Major, you were involved in S &R in Iraq,"_ Hammond reminds me, causing me to grimace. 

"Yes, Sir, I was but that was from the air. I was the pilot. I'm just about useless on the ground."

Hammond chuckles. _"All pilots think that way, son. You're in luck. SG-1 is just coming off a forced three day leave. I'll tell O'Neill to have his team suit up and they should be there within the hour."_

I give a brief nod, knowing he can see it even if I can't see him. "Thank you, General. I'll inform Edwards that they're on their way." With a brief salute, I cut the transmission and head back to Edwards' tent.

SG-1 (minus Carter) has arrived, over an hour past when Hammond assured me they'd be here, to help search for the missing scientist. Menard comes running up to where we're standing, talking about the S&R efforts so far and salutes. Edwards throws him a sloppy salute in return. He once told me he doesn't like to be saluted all the time but Menard must not have gotten that particular memo because he salutes every time he sees Edwards.

"Colonel Edwards?" Menard pants, handing Edwards a piece of paper before he scurries away.

Edwards takes the paper and barely glances at it. "I'm glad you're here, Jack. We're not trained for search and rescue. And Ritter's been missing now for three hours." 

"I assume he's got a compass and a radio?" O'Neill can be one hellava snarky bastard but I guess he has to ask.

Realizing that O'Neill has no idea about the problems we've encountered on this planet, I enlighten him as respectively as I can. "The planet has peculiar electromagnetic properties which make a compass useless and severely limit the range of our radios." 

"He's a good man and we need him back. Especially now, we think we may have discovered a significant deposit of naquadah." Edwards apparently didn't take too kindly to the implied insult the Colonel dealt our man.

"How significant?" Teal'c is usually the silent muscle to O'Neill's mouth but not today.

"Well, we won't know that until we complete our analysis," I answer, hoping we can stop talking soon and get on with finding the missing scientist.

Edwards deems my answer not enough and adds, "The Pentagon wants battle cruisers and F-302s. We find the rocks." 

"And we find the rock ... finders." O'Neill really has a quirky sense of humor but it failed him this time and he shares a chagrined look with Jackson.

Edwards turns to me and we share a similar look before he says, "There you have it. Um ... Major Lorne will show you where Ritter was last seen ..." 

"Yes, Sir. If you'll follow me ..." I instruct and begin leading them out of camp, the sound of the resonance scanners echoing in the background.

Unfortunately I lead them right past a line of crates that are covered with a tarp. Jackson demands, "What's this?" When I turn around to see what he's talking about I see he's pulled back the tarp and is looking at the tools lying on top of the crates like they were his favorite toy and some bully had borrowed them and then returned them broken. I walk back to stand beside Jackson. Not fully grasping what it is I did wrong. But I'm sure he'll tell me. "Artifacts?" he turns to look at me and I feel like I just kicked his puppy.

"Yes." I really want to say 'Here's your sign' but don't think the joke'd go over too well right now.

"You found all this and you-you didn't contact me?" he asks, aghast that anyone would do that.

"We were going to ..." I try to explain.

"They've been moved." He talks over me.

Is he dense or something? Just how long has he been working with the military that he doesn't get that when things are in the way _you move them_. "Well, they were in the way." I speak slowly as if to a child. 

In the mean time, O'Neill has walked back to stand behind me. At this point he steps forward and puts a hand on Jackson's shoulder. "Daniel... go to your happy place." He tells him in a soft soothing voice that tells me he's worked with the scientist long enough to know just how to calm him, although Jackson doesn't look like he wants to let it go. O'Neill pats Jackson's shoulder then turns and gives me a look of warning. "Go," He orders.

I turn and begin leading the way again. 

When we get to where Ritter was doing his scans, I look through his surveying scope, hoping to see something but I never was much of a surveyor. 

"Lieutenant Ritter was recording elevations and mapping the surrounding area." I walk over to where O'Neill is standing looking out at the treeline. "When he didn't show up for chow, we got worried and went out looking for him, Sir. Uh ... sent up a couple of flares ... hoped he'd see 'em, get his bearings ..." Being around Colonel O'Neill has always made me nervous and now is no exception. In fact right now I feel like I could throw up.

"Is it normal for guys to wander away from camp?" The Colonel has his arms crossed over his P90 in what I can only describe as an overly casual posture.

I don't know what to tell him. Shrugging I offer some suggestions. "Well, he might have been placing markers ... you know, multiple sightings, some up to half a mile ... you get turned around." I turn around when I hear Teal'c emerging from the treeline.

"Teal'c?" 

"The ground is extremely firm, O'Neill," The Jaffa informs us.

"No tracks?" O'Neill asks, although I'm sure he already knows the answer.

"Not in the immediate area. However, there is considerable damage to the underbrush moving off in several different directions." 

Then over the radio, we hear Jackson's excited voice. _"Jack, come in."_

O'Neill clicks his radio. "Yeah. Go ahead." 

_"I've got ... something ... see."_ There's so much interference that the transmission is garbled.

"I'm not reading you ... say again." 

When Jackson responds the second time we can hear him clearly. _"I said, I've got something here you need to see."_

"All right. On my way." He turns to Teal'c, the two Marines Edwards sent with us and myself and orders, "You guys keep looking. I'll be back." Teal'c bows his head in acceptance of the command and I nod, then turn back to face Teal'c and ask what his instructions are.

"I believe we should investigate in a different direction."

"You lead, we'll follow," I say and fall into step when he turns to enter the forest again. 

Before we really have a chance to look around, O'Neill's voice comes over the radio. _"Teal'c, come in."_

"Proceed O'Neill." 

_"Find anything?"_

"We have not," Teal'c informs him.

_"Well, heads up. Daniel just found evidence a Unas might have been in the area."_

Teal'c turns to look at me and raises an eyebrow. From what I know of him it's the closest he'll ever get to saying 'we are so screwed'. He turns back around and says into his radio, "Acknowledged." 

We soon find a clearing with several 'scarecrow' type structures that appear to be made of various Jaffa weapons, uniforms and sticks. It's a frightening sight. Teal'c moves to a rock and picks up a necklace of bones.

"What is it?" I ask. I've never seen anything like it.

Teal'c looks like he ate something that didn't agree with him. "The Unas wear these to prevent the Goa'uld from burrowing into their necks." 

I have a feeling we've really put our foot in it this time. This whole area looks like it's sacred to the Unas.

"I believe these figures are intended as a warning to stay away," he continues, examining one such figure.

I walk further ahead on the trail of 'scarecrows' and look at another. When I turn around, I find one with Ritter hanging on it. Teal'c joins me and I have to really struggle to not vomit. 

"Lieutenant Ritter ..." Teal'c says needlessly. And that's all it takes for me to lose my lunch. I rush to the edge of the path and toss my cookies in the bushes. It's not like I've never seen a dead man before so it must be the brutality with which he was killed.

Back at camp, Ritter's body is placed into a body bag and prepped for transport through the gate back to Earth. 

Edwards is understandably pissed and starts barking orders. "All right! I want extra ammo for everyone. Keep your eyes open and stay in radio contact." 

Jackson turns from the aerial map of the area and demands, "What are you intending to do?" 

Edwards gives him a 'Were you dropped on your head as a child?' look. "These things killed one of my men and strung him up like a scarecrow. What the hell do you think I intend to do?" 

I may never have actually met Doctor Daniel Jackson before this but I have seen him around the mountain, plus everyone at the SGC knows who he is, but I never thought of him as such a bleeding heart pacifist. I mean, I know he's always trying to talk the military in O'Neill down but I never thought he'd counter a Colonel's orders after an enemy had killed a man. "Well, you may have, unknowingly, provoked them." 

His statement gives Edwards pause. "We didn't even know they were here. How the hell could we have provoked them?" 

Jackson turns and points to the aerial picture behind him. "If this mine extends as far as your estimates say, then this other entrance would be well within the tunnel network. It's an alternate entrance to the same mine. Now, it has to be something about this area ... this mine. They don't want us here." 

"The feeling's mutual." Edwards' military side is showing and so Jackson does what he does best and turns to O'Neill, who just happens to outrank Edwards.

"Jack?" he pleads.

O'Neill turns to Edwards and tries to soothe his ruffled feathers. "Look, I know he can be a little..." he falters as he tries to find the word and settles on just waving his hand around, "but he's usually right about this stuff." 

Edwards stands his ground. "My orders are to determine the potential of this sight as a mining operation. Until those orders are rescinded, I'm going to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of my people. So, are you going to help me secure this area, or not?" 

O'Neill decides the best thing to do in this situation is to help us fight and we all go off into the forest, armed to the teeth. The battle is short but brutal and both sides have losses. Colonel O'Neill, almost being one of them, is saved by Jackson's knowledge of the Unas' language. O'Neill orders us all back to Earth to have our injuries tended to. While there, Edwards discusses with Hammond how to 'deal with the Unas problem'. Jackson manages to get them to agree to let him bring in another Unas he's had dealings with in the past.

When we get back, the camp is in ruins. Many objects have been burned and are still on fire. 

"Looks like the Unas had a little party while we were gone," I state the obvious, stepping around debris. 

Edwards knows when to admit he was wrong and this is one of those times, but he does it with a bit of snark. "You're right, Doctor Jackson. They're much more advanced than what I thought. They have command of fire. Major Lorne, as soon as this place is cleaned up, I want you to get a resonance scan analysis of the lower mine shafts." 

"Yes, Sir." I turn and signal to some men to follow me and we begin cleaning up the area.  
= = =  
Teal'c and I are talking quietly about how I don't get enough practice at staff fighting when Jackson and Chaka return to the camp. "Doctor Jackson ... how'd it go?" I call out seeing him headed our way.

"Well, I figured out why they attacked us. It's this mine ... it's sacred to them." He doesn't even stop, just blows right past Teal'c and me. I follow him as he continues to walk toward Edwards' tent. "Most of their ancestors were worked to death by the Goa'uld while they were mining it," he says over his shoulder. "It's a wonder they didn't attack us the minute we set foot on this planet." 

"Doctor, look ..." I try to interrupt and tell him what we've found.

"Now I told them I'd speak to my superiors on their behalf." He just talks right over me. "Sacred burial grounds are protected on Earth from industrial development. I think the same rule should apply here. We have to leave." 

We get to the communications tent and I finally get a word in edgewise. "We got the results of the resonance scan. The deposit is over 300 meters in length and almost completely solid." I show him the image on a computer screen. 

Edwards walks up and smugly says, "53,000 metric tons ... we're not going anywhere." 

I don't think Jackson takes the news all that well. He goes back to the gate and calls the SGC to tell them about his meeting with the Unas, then goes back to talk with the Unas leader again.

Edwards has stepped up patrols of the area without Jackson's knowledge. One young soldier is a tad nervous and misunderstands a Unas' intentions which brings the rest of the Unas out of hiding.

We've all made it back to the camp, though the Unas' roar continues to be heard in the background. 

"Colonel, we have to get out of here right now." Jackson tries to reason with Edwards.

Edwards isn't O'Neill and so doesn't really trust Jackson's opinion. "I don't buy it." 

Jackson waves one hand toward the surrounding hills. "Are you hearing this?" 

"A population that large would have been seen by aerial scans." Edwards is as stubborn as a mule.

"Unas live primarily underground in caves where aerial scans don't detect them." Jackson is getting desperate in his need to get Edwards to listen to him.

Teal'c speaks up. "Our position will be overrun." 

Jackson is clearly frustrated. "I was this close to working on an agreement with them. They just want to be left alone." 

Chaka gets Daniel's attention. "Dan'el!" 

Chaka and Daniel stop to look in the direction of Iron Shirt. The soldiers take up defensive positions and aim their weapons. Iron Shirt raises his arms and roars. 

Jackson doesn't want any blood to be shed and orders, "Hold your fire!" 

Edwards, ever the military man, insists, "If they attack, we will defend ourselves!" 

They look back at Iron Shirt and suddenly he is joined by a _lot_ of other Unas. Suddenly there are Unas everywhere on the rise in front of us. The roar grows even louder. Iron Shirt lets out a long loud wail and all the others quiet down. Then just a low rumbling can be heard. 

Several soldiers move to take up defensive positions, though their attempts will most likely be futile. 

Edwards knows when he's out manned. "You're right, Doctor Jackson. Let's get back to the 'gate." 

"No, it's too late. If we move now, they'll run us down," Jackson tells him.

Iron Shirt takes a leap. Then he begins walking down the rise, alone, to the camp. 

"What's he doing?" Edwards is nervous about this turn of events.

"I don't know." Guess Jackson doesn't know everything.

Iron Shirt keeps coming and tension among the soldiers rises. 

Jackson glances over his shoulder at Edwards. "Don't do anything stupid ... He's giving us a chance." 

"A chance to do what?" 

Iron Shirt walks to within a few yards of Daniel. He stops and makes a few hissing sounds. "To surrender," Jackson says.

"Surrender? Not possible," Edwards scoffs.

"Don't do it, Colonel," Jackson snaps.

Edwards lowers his weapon and Daniel takes a step forward. "Kor Asek ... 'Uman a ta ka keka." 

"What are you saying?" 

"I'm saying we don't have to kill each other." He makes the sign language word for 'friend'. "'Uman a te a ka naya. We can be of the same tribe. A ka naya ko keka Onac. Together we can bring death to the Goa'uld." 

"Tak!" 

"Trick?" 

"Dan'el ... cho' ee' che. 'Uman ko keka Unas." 

Jackson looks at Edwards out of the corner of his eye. "He's saying that ... while we talk peace, Humans kill Unas. He doesn't believe me. We have to show respect. We have to get down on the ground." 

Chaka is already starting to kneel. 

"On the ground? There's no way I'm gettin' down on the ..." Edwards is used to being Alpha male and as such it goes against the grain for him to show submissiveness to anyone.

Jackson turns his head and talks to Edwards while trying to not offend Iron Shirt anymore than we already have. "Colonel, this is the way their social order works! We have to show submissiveness to show that we're not a threat, that we're not challenging them! We have to get down on the ground and that is all that we have to do." 

Daniel, Chaka and Teal'c take a knee. Iron Shirt looks at Edwards. 

"Colonel ... everyone, please?" 

Edwards looks around once more at the large contingent of Unas and then kneels down. All of us follow his lead. 

"Benna ..." He turns to roar at his followers. "A benna! A tar 'Uman!" There is a low rumbling from the Unas. Iron Shirt turns back to Daniel. "On-or." 

"Honor. He understands. Cho' ee' che ... Kor Asek." He motions for Iron Shirt to sit. 

Iron Shirt kneels down. Jackson opens a vest pocket and takes something out; from where I'm sitting I can't really see what it is. When he holds up a burning twig I figure out that it was a lighter. Iron Shirt pulls off his bone necklace and tosses it on the ground between him and Jackson. Jackson nods. 

"Now we can negotiate." Daniel moves into a sitting position. 

"How long do we have to kneel?" Edwards complains.

"As long as it takes." Jackson nods to Iron Shirt. Iron Shirt hisses back.   
= = =   
"A cha' aka, Dan'el," Iron Shirt says with a nod.

"A cha' aka, Kor Asek," Jackson replies. He picks up the necklace and stands, turning to speak with Edwards as Chaka moves to talk with Iron Shirt. "Well, I think we've got ourselves a deal." 

"And what deal would that be, Doctor Jackson?" 

"Well, we've agreed not to desecrate their sacred ground anymore." 

"We have?" 

"And in exchange-" Jackson and Edwards turn to watch as Iron Shirt tries to figure out the lighter. "-the Unas will honor their dead by helping defeat their ancestors' killers, the Goa'uld." 

"And just how are they going to do that?" 

"They're going to work the mine themselves." 

"What? Did you propose this?" 

"No, actually, it, uh, was Iron Shirt." 

Iron Shirt has now mastered the lighter and is very pleased with himself. 

"Okay, let me get this straight ... the Unas are going to mine this deposit and turn all the naquadah over to us?" 

"That's right ..." 

"Can they, uh, work a jackhammer?" 

"I think you'll find they are very intelligent and can learn. You treat them with honor and respect and, uh ... and you'll find out what kind of allies they can be." 

"O'Neill was right about you. You are a pain in the ass ... but, well worth it." He gives Jackson's shoulder a little tap. Jackson turns to join Chaka and Iron Shirt. Iron Shirt proudly displays his burning twig. 

"Ah ... Dan'el." Jackson nods and then looks at Chaka. 

"Aka ..." Chaka bows his head ala Teal'c.

Once the threat of the Unas is solved, Jackson takes Chaka back to his home world. It takes Edwards several days before he's comfortable having the Unas in and around the camp. That's not to say there aren't times when I wish Jackson hadn't left and taken Chaka with him. The Unas prove to be extremely quick learners and soon we can communicate, if not perfectly, then definitely with more ease than when we first discovered their presence on the planet.

Several months later, I'm back on Earth for scheduled leave, aka ordered by my mother, when O'Neill, who has since been promoted to General, calls me into his office.

"Sir?" I knock on the frame of his open door.

He looks up from the file he's reading. "Lorne. Have a seat." He motions me in and to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

I can't for the life of me figure out why he would want to see me. My last eval with Edwards went very well so I know there's not a problem with the way I perform my duties. Settling nervously into the same chair I occupied when Hammond told me I was being transferred to Edwards' team, I do my best to not let O'Neill see the effect he has on me.

Unfortunately he doesn't seem inclined to put me at ease and returns his attention to the file on his desk, leaving me to figure out how to not squirm. _I'm a Major in the United States Air Force, not some punk high schooler who's been caught by the principal smoking in the boy's room._

Finally he takes pity on me and sets the file aside. Stacking his hands on top of his desk he leans forward, catching my eye. "I'm about to give you an opportunity of a lifetime, Major," he begins, a smug smile curling his lips.

Knowing what he has in mind, I try to find the words to tell him thanks, but no thanks. I've never wanted any kind of command, which is why it took a Colonel _and_ a General to convince me to become second in command of a gate team. I've been quite happy for the past year in my semi-command position, Edwards is very easy to get along with, but I don't want, or need, the headache that comes with command. "With all due respect, Sir-" I try and head him off.

"No, hear me out, Major," he interrupts, one hand raised, palm out. "I understand you're one of the few who is more than content to stand behind the guy giving the orders but I feel you need a push. I've been watching you for a while now and I can see something in you that would make an excellent team leader. You're designation will be SG-20 and you'll be the team that goes back to planets where Daniel finds something of interest so you're going to need an archeologist and linguist." He pauses and his smile grows into a grin. "Out there on the table," he jerks his head in the direction of the briefing room, "are two piles of personnel files. One with the scientists that have worked with Daniel and therefore know what he'll expect of them and one with all the available Marines. You need to pick two Marines and one scientist. You have two weeks. Dismissed." He picks up another folder and begins to read it.

Blinking at this sudden turn of events, I stand and make my way to the table and the piles of file folders. Sitting down in one of the chairs I idly wonder if O'Neill told Edwards before this or if he's leaving that up to whoever he picked to replace me.

Grabbing a folder off the pile to my left, I flip it open and instantly find the Marine I want for my 2IC; Captain Johan Ames. I then sort through the rest of the files putting aside those who have a higher rank than Ames, most of who, for whatever reason, have a higher rank than even _me_. Seriously, what was O'Neill thinking giving me files on men who outrank me? I can't possibly be the leader of SG-20 if one of the men outranks me. Shaking my head at that, I begin looking for the third member of my team.

Several minutes later I have three possible candidates: Lance Corporal Bear Blackthorne, Second Lieutenant Mark Travis and Private First Class Joy Morris. I set them aside with a note to ask Walter to have them report to me within the next couple of days and begin going through the pile of scientists.

I've set four files into my possible pile when Jackson enters. "Major Lorne," he greets in a tone that tells me he was looking for me.

"Doctor Jackson," I greet him back with a nod of my head.

He takes the seat in front of me and pulls the remaining files toward him. He shuffles through them quickly. A frown settles on my brow. "Um, Doc? Just what are you doing?"

"Just a minute, Major," he responds in a tone I recognize from when he was last on P3X-403. It's a tone that tells me he's not really listening. 

I sit back in my chair, drumming my fingers on the table. Hearing muffled laughter; I look to my left and see O'Neill standing in the doorway to his office, one hand over his mouth and his shoulders shaking. Narrowing my eyes, I turn back to see Jackson holding up one file. 

Handing it over he tells me, "Here's your archeologist, Major. She's my protégé and second only to me in knowledge of Ancient ruins and languages."

Taking the folder from him, I flip it open. Ignoring the picture, because it has no bearings on whether or not she'll be a perfect fit, I scan her profile: Doctor Astra Owen, Australian, degree from Oxford, divorced, no kids, comes from an Australian Air Force family, has a twin brother who also works at SGC and has been at SGC almost as long as I have. Whistling softly at her credentials, I look up at Jackson. "When will she be available for an interview?"

"I believe she's off-world with SG-9 at the moment," Jackson begins.

"They're scheduled back at 2000 hours tonight," O'Neill interjects. "Give her a day to rest up."

I nod in agreement. "That's fine. Day after tomorrow, say 1100 hours?" I turn back to Jackson. As her supervisor, he'll be the one to pass along the request. He nods and gathers the files of the ones I didn't choose. 

"Did ya have to meddle, Daniel?" O'Neill asks sauntering into the room and picking up the files I've set aside as possible candidates. "I can save you some time here, Major," he says doing some meddling of his own. "Corporal Blackthorne is much better qualified than these other two."

"Stop meddling, Jack," Jackson chides standing up and pushing O'Neill out of the room. 

"I'll ask Walter to send your three choices in to talk to you tomorrow. How far apart would you like the appointments set?"

"An hour? I plan on talking to them for anywhere from fifteen minutes to half an hour."

"Sounds good." O'Neill side-steps Jackson's attempts to shove him through the door to his office. "We'll make the first one for 0800 tomorrow?"

His question reminds me I'm supposed to be back on P3X-403 at 0800 in the morning. "Um, General?" I call, standing up. "Colonel Edwards is expecting me at 0800 tomorrow."

"Not anymore he's not," O'Neill replies.

"So you told him I'm getting my own gate team?"

He rocks back on his heels, a smirk crossing his face. "Nope."

"So, what? You're going to let Lorne's replacement tell him?" Jackson demands, slapping O'Neill's arm with the back of his hand.

O'Neill shrugs. "What? I'm the General. I can let someone else do the telling of bad news, if I want."

"Let me, please, Sir," I request. "Edwards was very good to me and I'd feel guilty not telling him myself. I can take my replacement, show him around, make sure the men know to respect him same as they did me."

"Alright," O'Neill gives in. "I'll have Walter set the interviews up for day after tomorrow starting at 0800. I expect you back here at 1900 tomorrow." He points a finger at me, then lets Jackson turn him around and push him through the door, closing it behind them.

That settled, I gather the files I didn't choose. "I'll get those, Major. If you want to just leave them for now," Walter pokes his head in to inform me.

"Very good, Sergeant." I begin to walk out of the room before remembering. "General O'Neill has the names of four people I need to meet day after tomorrow to discuss them joining the new gate team I'll be leading."

"Yes, Sir. Very good." He begins gathering the files.

"Thank you, Sergeant," I tell him, exiting the room and heading to the locker room to take a shower before I turn in for the night. As is my habit, I'll be spending the night in my on-base quarters so I don't risk oversleeping and being late to step through the gate.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning I kit up and arrive in the gate room about thirty minutes early. I spend the time catching up with some of the Marines standing guard. About five minutes before the dial-out, my replacement comes stumbling into the gate room, snapping to attention when she sees me.

"Major Lorne!" She salutes, visibly trying to calm her breathing. "I was told you wouldn't be returning to P3X-403."

"Technically I'm not," I try to reassure her. "I didn't feel right letting you tell Edwards that you're to replace me." A look of gratitude passes over her face and she releases a deep sigh.

"I greatly appreciate it, Major," she says, turning to face the gate.

Rolling my eyes in exasperation because Edwards will not be thanking O'Neill anytime soon for replacing me with this still wet behind the ears teeny-bopper, I turn to catch Walter's eye up in the control room. Raising a hand, one finger pointing to the ceiling, I rotate it in a circular motion, and nod to signal I'm ready for him to dial the gate. As Walter activates the gate, I turn to watch each chevron lock in place and say to the young woman standing to my right "You seem to have me at a disadvantage, Private."

She gulps loudly. "Sorry, Sir. Private Tracy Meyers."

"Chevron five engaged," Walter says.

"No need to be nervous, Private. Colonel Edwards is pretty easy to get along with." _What the hell is O'Neill thinking? This poor woman looks like she just graduated high school and she'll be the lowest ranking person on the team._

"Chevron seven locked." When the event horizon blooms outward and then recedes almost instantly, leaving only the familiar rippling portal, I feel the familiar tingle run down my spine at the thought of stepping through to another planet.

Private Meyers scrambles to keep up with me as I make my way up the ramp and I wonder, yet again, why O'Neill chose her as my replacement. Then I cross the event horizon and lose all thought for the seconds it takes to travel the distance between the two planets. When I emerge on the other side I spare half a thought to hope that O'Neill doesn't mean for her to replace me as 2IC but to fill the opening on the team my leaving and someone being promoted will leave.

"Major Lorne, welcome back," Edwards greets me when Meyers and I enter the command tent. "Who's your friend?"

"Colonel Edwards this is Private Meyers," I make introductions. He just raises one brow in question.

Before I can explain further, Meyers pulls a piece of paper out of one of her vest pockets. "From General O'Neill, Sir." She hands him the paper and salutes.

Edwards reads what the General wrote then lifts his gaze to mine. "When did he tell you, Major?"

"Yesterday around 1800 hours, Sir."

He nods. "Thank you for coming along to deliver the message. Meyers, you're dismissed to find your bunk. Lorne, come with me. We need to tell Burns that he's taking your place as my 2IC."

"Yes, Sir." Edwards and I exit the tent in the direction of where Burns is instructing a group of Unas. I glance over my shoulder and see poor Meyers looking totally lost and I have to wonder yet again just what O'Neill was thinking in sending her here. _Poor kid. She is in way over her head._ She can't have been out of the Academy very long and every time I see her I expect to see her arms full of books or to be lugging a backpack nearly as big as she is.

Luckily Burns is one of the men that have been with Edwards long enough to know exactly how he likes things done, so turning over my post isn't the ordeal I thought it would be. 

The remainder of my day is spent mostly hanging out and making double sure that Burns will be able to step smoothly into my shoes as 2IC of SG-11.

At ten minutes to 1900 hours, I gate back to Earth and head to the gym looking for Teal'c. Not finding the Jaffa, I decide to turn in for the night but end up having a difficult time falling asleep.

Growing bored with staring at the ceiling, I get up and head to the gym, intent on working out my restlessness on the heavy bag. When I arrive, I find Teal'c had a similar idea.

"Major Lorne," he greets with an inclination of his head.

"Teal'c. Can't sleep?"

"No. Care to practice with the staff?"

A grin crosses my face. I haven't practiced what he's taught me in some time so I'm pretty sure he can kick my ass but that'll definitely help me sleep so I nod my head and accept the staff he tosses me.

For the better part of the next hour, we trade blows with him landing more hits to my back or legs than I do to him. After a particularly hard blow to my shoulders that he managed to land in a fatigue induced moment of distraction, I call a halt.

Bending over at the waist, resting my hands on my knees, I try to catch my breath and look up at him through my sweat soaked hair. "I think I'll be able to sleep now."

"Indeed," Teal'c agrees. We shake hands and head off in opposite directions; him to his on-base quarters because he has a private shower and me to the locker room because my on-base quarters don't have one.

"Now that I'm the CO of a gate team and no longer stationed off-world I can practice more often," I call after him before he has a chance to get too far.

"I look forward to that, Major Lorne," he replies, giving me a small bow and turning the corner.

Rubbing at my now aching shoulders, I continue on to the showers, looking forward to standing under the warm spray before falling into bed and hopefully sleeping the night through.

My first appointment the following morning is with PFC Morris. She's more cheerleader than Marine and I spend our meeting fighting a goofy grin. In the end I decide she's just not right for my team. Just a tad too cheerful. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just don't want someone always trying to cheer me up when the situation is dire.

Next up Lieutenant Travis. He's a glass half empty kind of guy. Just like with Morris, I need someone on my team whose emotions fit the situation.

When Corporal Blackthorne enters the briefing room, I know that O'Neill was right. The tall good looking Native American is exactly the type of Marine I'm looking for as the fourth member of my team. Blackthorne is quiet and unassuming. He sees the good in everything but doesn't sugar coat a bad situation into a good one. If a moment calls for violence and anger, that's just what you'll get from him. But if gentleness and sensitivity are required, you'll get that too. Blackthorne's been in the Corps since he graduated high school, went on to a local state college on his GI grant money. He joined the Stargate Program two years ago and has yet to actually be off-world. He's a kindred spirit in that he views going through the gate as an adventure. It doesn't bother him that he's never actually done it. He's heard the stories of those that have, and that's enough. For now.

"Welcome to SG-20, Corporal," I say, standing and leaning over the table to shake his hand.

His face lights up. "Really? That's great. Thanks, Major. You won't regret it. I promise." Okay, so maybe the guy can be a tad over the top, but then again who wouldn't be when told they're finally going to get to go to another planet?

Chuckling softly at his enthusiasm, I sit back down. "We'll have our first official team meeting Friday at 1200 hours in the team room."

"Very good, Sir." He jumps up and starts to leave the room. Halting at the door he turns back. "Sorry, Sir," he apologizes.

I hide a grin in my hand. "Dismissed, Corporal." 

My meeting with Captain Ames has to take place in the infirmary. On his last trip off-world, Ames tripped over an exposed rock while trying to save a little girl from drowning and twisted his knee. The doctors say he'll be right as rain in a few days but for now, he has to keep it elevated and stay off it.

"Captain," I greet the blond man lying in the bed, his left knee propped up on pillows.

He pushes himself upright as much as he's able. "Major. What can I do for, Sir?"

"Well, for starters, you can get back on your feet as quickly as possible." I throw him a grin and take a seat in the chair next to the bed.

"All ready planning on that, Sir." He pauses to clear his throat. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"If you don't mind my asking, Sir, but why do you want me to get better soon?"

Apparently the SGC grapevine isn't as extensive as I always thought. "Because I want you as my second in command."

His eyes pop out of his head. "When'd you get a command?" His face pales and he chokes on a quickly indrawn breath. "I…I…mean…" he stammers to a stop.

I'm laughing so hard my sides hurt and tears are forming in my eyes. "Major, please," a nurse hisses, making the 'shush' sign with one finger against her lips.

Swallowing my chuckles, I nod my head in apology then turn back to Ames. "Sorry about that. I guess it's no secret I prefer to follow rather than lead." He nods his head. "O'Neill has made me CO of SG-20. We'll basically be a 'second look' team. If Jackson finds something of interest on a planet and he doesn't have time to properly study it, we get sent back to do that."

"So who's the scientist?"

"Jackson has recommended a Doctor Astra Owen. Do you know her?"

"Can't say as I've had the pleasure, Sir."

I nod. "So," I clap my hands and stand up, "We're going to have our first official team meeting Friday at 1200 hours in the team room." Clamping him on the shoulder, I give it a shake.

"Friday, 1200 it is, Sir. Thank you for picking me as your 2IC."

"You deserve it, Captain." With a mini salute, I exit the infirmary and head for the mess. I have just enough time to grab something to eat before my meeting with Doctor Owen.

Due to a really long line in the mess, I have to take a tray of food with me to my meeting with Doctor Owen. When I enter the room, there's a woman standing at the observation window looking down at the gate. "Doctor Owen?" I question, setting the tray down on the table and taking a seat.

"Yes. Daniel said you wanted to speak to me about something?" I freeze at the first word out of her mouth. Her voice is achingly familiar. When she turns from the window, her eyes narrow and her back stiffens. "You!" she snarls, pointing a finger at me.

I decide to pretend I have no clue as to who she is. "Did Doctor Jackson tell you anything about what I want to talk to you about?"

Her brows lower in an angry frown. "Are you serious? Do you really not remember knocking me on my arse a year ago?"

Looking up from where I'm going through her file, I tap my pen on the desk while trying to decide if I should acknowledge what happened. With a deep sigh, I toss the pen down and stand up to lean over the table. "I remember. Except the way I remember it _you_ knocked _me_ on _my_ ass. I seem to remember being flat on my back, with _you_ on top of me and when you got up, you placed your knee right on my crotch." A flush rushes up her neck to turn her cheeks a becoming shade of pink. "Seriously, Doctor. Did you _have_ to knee me while I was down?"

She sticks her nose in the air. "You deserved it, Major."

"Oh, yeah? Why? What did I do?"

She starts wringing her hands and won't meet my gaze. She turns away and mumbles something under her breath.

My brows climb my forehead at her evasive behavior. "I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that."

She sighs and her shoulders slump. "I _said_ ," she begins, turning to face me again. "That you were holding me too tightly."

"I was _what_?" What game could she possibly be playing?

She refuses to meet my gaze, just looks at anything and everything that isn't me. "When you grabbed me; you held on too tightly. Your fingers touched… my…my…" she falters to a stop and waves her hands around in the general area of her chest.

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" I exclaim, slumping back in my chair and throwing my hands in the air. "You're so slender that it's damn near impossible to _not_ touch them when my arms are wrapped around your upper back."

Her eyes narrow on my face and I get a feeling in the pit of my stomach similar to what I get when one of my sisters looks at me the same way. "Are you saying I'm too skinny?"

"No, Doctor, I'm saying that to survive on a military base, surrounded by _men_ , you need to be a little bit more thick skinned. Not to mention you need to learn the difference between someone being rude and harassing and someone trying to keep you from hurting yourself when you fall down!" She sticks her nose even higher in the air. "You know what? On second thought, I think I'll go with one of the scientists who have a rank. At least then I'll know that my orders will be followed without question or hesitation." I begin shuffling through the files on the table, thanking Walter for not being so prompt in removing them. "That's all, Doctor," I say when I realize she has yet to leave the room.

"That's not necessary, Major," she says, sitting down in the chair opposite me. "I come from a military family. I know how to follow orders."

"Do you, now?" I look up at her through my lashes while taking a large bite of my sandwich.

She can't stop the flush from creeping up her neck. Squaring her shoulders, she finds something of interest on the wall over my shoulder. "I assure you, Major, if you give me a chance, I won't let you down."

I sit back in my chair and finish my lunch. "I'll give you six months, Doctor. If I have to argue with you even once while in the field, you will find yourself back Earth side so fast, your pretty little head will spin. Am I clear?"

"Crystal." Her eyes are glaring emerald daggers at me.

Leaning forward, I brace my arms on the table so I can look her in the eye. "I'm serious, Doctor. I have no problem with women in the military nor do I mind civilians on my team. Just know that you will be required to keep up and pull your own weight. My men are not here for your convenience. I will not allow them to carry your pack unless you are injured. I have three older sisters so I know just how strong a woman can, and should, be so don't think you'll be able to get away with claiming to be the weaker sex." She wisely keeps her mouth shut and gives a terse nod. "Now that that's out of the way," I murmur, reaching for her file and pulling it toward me. "I don't see your proficiencies." 

"My what?" She relaxes slightly, tilts her head to the side and frowns at me.

"Firing range proficiencies."

A small smile crosses her face. "That would be because I've never taken them."

My head snaps up. Surely she's kidding. There's no way O'Neill would let anyone, not even his pet scientist's pet protégé, off-world without knowing how to shoot a gun. "You've been going off-world without knowing how to defend yourself?"

"I'm a scientist." She says it like she's telling me she's royalty.

"And?" I raise one eyebrow. "Doctor Jackson carries a gun. A damn big gun, too."

"But he's on the front lines with SG-1. Only time I ever went off-world with them was to planets we knew were safe. Plus I had several Marines and other well armed soldiers around to keep me safe."

"Fair enough. But I prefer to know that every member of my team has my six and that includes _you_." I jab one finger in her direction. And I thought my sisters were stubborn.

"You should know that despite being from a military family, I dislike guns immensely."

"Don't care." I give a one shouldered shrug. "You expect my men and me to protect you while off-world so guess what, Princess? We expect the same from you."

Her lips thin in agitation. "I was told not liking guns wouldn't be a problem."

I turn my laugh into a cough. "I don't care if the _President of the United States_ told you that. When on _my team_ , you will learn how to fire a P90, a 9mm, a zat and any other weapon I deem necessary. You will also learn some form of weaponless combat. This is a deal breaker, Doctor. If you can't, or won't, commit to these terms, I'll thank you to cease taking up the time I could be using to find your replacement." I once again begin to flip through the files on the table in front of me. My mother, and sisters, would not be very happy with how I'm treating her right at this moment but it can't be helped. Even though we're a second look team, it's still dangerous out there.

Doctor Owen doesn't take to my mandate too well if the furious heat I feel pouring off her is any indication, since I refuse to lift my head and see just how pissed she is.

After nearly a minute of complete silence, she growls softly and says, "Fine. We'll do it your way." As if there was any doubt.

Mom would be proud of how I don't gloat. "Excellent." I look up at her and wince mentally at the anger still showing on her face. "There will be a team meeting Friday at 1200 in the team room. But I want to see you tomorrow and Friday morning at 0800 for weapons training."

"That's not possible."

"Oh, yeah? Why not?"

"I have projects that I'm currently working on and those morning sessions interfere with my deadlines."

This time I do smirk, sitting back in my chair, playing with my pen. "I think you'll find, Doctor, that while you've been in here with me all of your projects have been reassigned."

"You can't do that!" she screeches, jumping to her feet.

"He didn't, As." Jackson's voice interrupts from the direction of O'Neill's office.

Doctor Owen stomps over to where he's standing, leaning against the wall. "But, Daniel," she whines. "I worked hard to get those projects."

"I know, Astra, but Major Lorne needs you on his team." He lays one hand on her shoulder and gives her a shake.

She leans in close and says in a stage whisper, "He wants me to learn how to use a gun and fight someone hand-to-hand."

Jackson just blinks at her for a second. "And Jack required the same of me. You don't really think that Lorne and his men should be responsible for protecting you off-world when you can't return the favor, do you? It's not fair to them, or you. You know that."

To give her credit, she doesn't stomp her foot and pout, but it's a close thing. She does make a frustrated sound in the back of her throat. "Seriously, Daniel," she huffs. "If it wasn't such an honor to be chosen for a gate team…" she lets the sentence trail off.

"I know, As, I know." It's obvious that Doctor Owen and Jackson care for each other. Just how much is none of my concern as long as Jackson doesn't try to interfere with my command of her. "Now,-" Jackson's voice brings me back from my thoughts. "-are you going to be the good girl I know you can be and play nice with the Major and his Marines?"

"I'm not a child, Daniel." There's a note of humor in her voice which I take as a very good sign.

"Then stop acting like one." He taps her on the tip of her nose with one finger. She playfully bites at it and they share a chuckle. "Is there anything else, Major? I thought I'd steal Astra for one last lunch before you start taking her off-world."

"She's all yours until 0800 tomorrow."

"Perfect!" Jackson claps his hands, then turns and begins what appears to be a one-sided conversation about where they should go.

With a shake of my head, I begin clearing up the conference table, putting the two doctors from my mind.

"Major?" Doctor Owen actually manages to startle me.

I turn and blink at her. "I thought you were off to lunch with Jackson," I say stupidly.

"He'll notice I'm not with him before he hits the elevators."

"Does this often, does he?" I lean one hip on the table edge. If this woman is going to be watching my six for the foreseeable future, it would behoove me to be nice to her.

She chuckles. "Quite." She pauses and takes a deep breath. "I want to apologize. The way I behaved was just horrible and I'm deeply ashamed of myself."

I look down at where I'm playing with the hem on the bottom of my uniform shirt. "What exactly are you apologizing for?"

Doctor Astra Owen is very pretty when she blushes. "For all of it, Major. For kneeing you a year ago, for knocking you down to begin with, for accusing you of accusing me of stealing your report, of the way I reacted today." She runs out of breath. "Take your pick. Any or all of it, really."

Pursing my lips, I pretend to think about it. "Apology accepted. I must apologize too. I admit I egged you on a bit there."

"Flashbacks to being bullied by your sisters?" Her eyes sparkle like tiny emeralds when she's happy and I find myself wanting to ensure she's happy the majority of the time.

I smile back at her. "Something like that. They made my childhood pure hell."

She throws back her head and gives a rich full-bodied laugh. "I bet they dressed you up like a doll, didn't they?"

"The only drawback to being five years younger than the youngest. While my mother doted on me, my sisters decided that the boy child our parents brought home was pure evil and the only way to purge said evil from the family, house, my soul, was to turn me into a living doll and force me to bake for their tea parties." I don't know why I just told her all that. Even my friends from ROTC and when I was in the Gulf don't know that about me.

She finds my childhood trauma wildly funny. In fact she finds it so funny she's bent over double, holding her sides.

"So very glad I could amuse you, Doctor Owen." My tone is dry enough to start a fire. "I can only hope that over the course of our acquaintance I have the opportunity to learn something equally as traumatizing to you and funny to me."

My words have the desired effect of sobering her up. "You're just a big meanie head, aren't you?"

I don't even stop the laugh at her use of such a childish name but before I can form a reply, Jackson pokes his head back in. "Done with her _now_ , Major?"

"Absolutely. Have a good time at lunch."  
= = =   
A couple of hours later, I pull into my parents' driveway. Ever since I was a kid my mother has been my confidant, the one I can tell just about everything. It kills me that I can't tell her about the Stargate. Luckily she understands that I can't tell her much about my job but every time I see her I can see the strain it puts on her to not know where I am and what I'm doing. I can't tell if not knowing now is worse than not knowing when I was in the Gulf. Probably now because when I was in the Gulf she could watch the news – scratch that. When I was in the Gulf was worse because she could see footage of men and women fighting, dying and coming home battered, broken or dead. My only consolation is that if I die off-world she'll be getting a letter from me telling her the truth of what I've been doing because I know she'll keep something like that, delivered after my death, to herself because she'll consider it a death bed declaration.

Climbing from my truck, I try and figure out what I'm going to say when asked why I'm here in the middle of the week. Unannounced visits are not uncommon due to the unpredictable nature of gate travel, but I don't usually show up without warning on a weekday.

The backdoor, as usual, is unlocked and I just let myself into the kitchen. Pausing just inside the door, I take a deep breath of all the smells that I will forever associate with my mother and happy times. My mother has been baking, something she does whenever she's worried.

"It's me, Mom!" I call out, stepping up to the island and snagging one of the still warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookies cooling there.

"Evan?" My mother's worried voice proceeds her into the kitchen. "Oh, Evan!" She rushes into my arms, sobbing softly into my shoulder.

"Mom? Have you been watching those news reports again?" I wait for her to nod. "I told you, my assignment is closer to home than that." And here's why I want so badly to tell her. Of course she'd then just start worrying for a whole slew of different reasons.

"I know, Baby, but I can't help it. You used to be there and probably have friends who are still there." She gives a tiny hiccup and rubs her cheek against my shirt.

I set her away from me. "Mom, you have to stop this."

She sighs and walks over to the table where she flops down in a chair. "I can't help it, Evian. When you don't call or come by, I get to missing you and it reminds me of when you were over there."

I join her at the table, sliding into the chair opposite and taking her hands in mine. "I was just here for a visit."

"Two weeks ago, Evan Michael Lorne!"

She's right, but still she had requested me to come home for a visit. "And I had been here for two weeks, Mom. I told you that even though I'm stateside, I still can't come home every weekend."

She slumps in her chair. "I know. Doesn't stop me from missing you, though."

"I know and I love you for it." I lift her hands and kiss them, giving her a playful wink.

We sit there in companionable silence for a couple of minutes before she visibly rallies. Shaking herself out of her funk she straightens in her chair. "So, Baby, tell Mom why you're here in the middle of the week."

 _Damn._ Was hoping to not have to go there. "Was feeling like a drive and before I knew it, I was here."

"Uh-huh. This is your mother you're talking to, Evan. You really think I believe you drove two hours for no real reason?" She gives me The Look and I know I had better fess up as much as I can before I'm in even more trouble.

"I was given a promotion of sorts."

"A promotion?" She sits up even straighter in her chair and her eyes light up with excitement.

"Not in rank, Mom." She deflates at that. "I've been given my own team to lead."

She frowns at me. "Haven't you done that before?"

"Not since basic, Mom." I find I can't sit still and get up to shrug out of my jacket before going over to the pantry and removing an apron and putting it on.

"There has to be more to it than that." There's a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Why do you say that?" I ask, getting what I need to make bread.

"Because despite that dream kitchen I helped you build in your apartment, you always come here and bake bread when you're upset or worried."

The woman knows me too well. I slam the cast iron bread tin down on the marble countertop before bracing myself on my hands and blowing out a frustrated breath that fluffs my hair. "I'm sure I can handle it."

"It's a woman, isn't it?"

I look at her out of the corner of my eye. "What makes you say that?" I know she'll see right through me but I have to try and deflect her.

"Hi, have we met? I'm your mother."

Her response pulls a chuckle from me. "You're right but it's been a while-" I start to try and evade her question, yet again.

"Which is why I know for a fact that some little girly has you all tied in knots. You are way past due for an affair of the heart." She pats my cheek. "Of all my children you were the one I had to worry about getting their heart broken along with breaking hearts."

Heaving a sigh, I begin mixing the dough for cinnamon bread. "I don't think this one will break my heart, Mom. In fact, I'm pretty sure she won't."

Mom puts on her own apron and joins me at the island, mixing her own ball of dough. I'm instantly taken back to when I was a boy and would spill my heartache out while standing right here in this exact spot, baking bread.

"So, tell me." She bumps my shoulder with hers.

"Not much to tell. She's a member of my team."

"Oh." I watch as my mother's face falls. "I was hoping…" Her voice trails off and she shrugs.

I know exactly what she was hoping. If I had my way she'd get it. Astra Owen is everything I love in a woman. She's smart, beautiful, independent if a tad stubborn, not to mention she has green eyes I could get lost in. "One day, Mom. I promise."

She sniffs. "Been making me that promise for over ten years now, Evan."

"I know, Mom." I sigh and turn my dough ball out onto the flour covered marble so I can begin to knead it. "If that stupid rule wasn't around I might, and I stress _might_ , ask her out." I do my best to pretend I don't see the hopeful look on her face at that.

"Truly, Evan?" She moves further down the counter where she will have more room to knead her own dough.

Seeing the way she's going at it, I take a gamble and try to get her off my love life, or lack thereof. "Dad do something stupid again?"

"None of your business, young man." She glares at me and pounds harder on her ball of dough. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do there."

I eye her warily for a moment before returning to my own dough. "Just trying to be a good son."

"Bullshit. You don't want to talk about this woman you like."

She's right, again. I did say my mother is my best friend and knows me better than anyone, right?

"I…have nothing to say to that."

"Of course you don't." She chuckles and tosses some flour at me. "But I love you anyway."

"Good thing, right?"

"Damn straight." She gives a curt nod and we share a laugh. "So?" she prompts a moment later.

I take a deep breath and release it slowly. I love my mother, I really do, but sometimes she's like a dog with a bone. "Her name is Astra, _Doctor_ Astra Owen."

" _Doctor_?" Her eyes go wide at Astra's title.

"Yeah. PhD, not MD, though."

"I don't care. How does she feel about you being in the Air Force?"

I roll my eyes and make a mental note to never introduce Astra to my mother. Ever. "We're not dating, Mom. She's the civilian on my team."

"So? What's she like?" She plops her dough ball into a bowl and covers it with a damp towel to let it rise and I follow suit.

"She has light green eyes and shoulder length brown hair." We move our gab fest back to the table.

"And?" She smacks the back of one of my hands. "I swear, Evan, it has never been this difficult to get you to talk about some girl who has caught your eye."

I rub one hand along the back of my neck. "That's because of the no fraternization regs, Mom. If she wasn't going to be under my direct command it wouldn't be a problem, but she is." Just then the grandfather clock in the front hall chimes the hour and I realize I have a two hour drive ahead of me and that if I leave now I'll get about four hours sleep before having to be at the firing range in the mountain at 0800. Standing and shrugging back into my jacket, I tell her, "I need to go now. I have an appointment at 0800."

She pouts but stands with me. "If you must." She comes around the table and hugs me. Pulling back, she takes my face in her hands and stares into my eyes. Giving a tiny gasp at whatever she sees there. "Is it possible? Could it be that you're-"

I don't let her finish. Pulling her hands from my face, I step back toward the door. "It's just friendship, Mom. I like this woman and I have to work with her."

"You sure that's all?"

"Mom," I say as threatening as I can.

"What?" She blinks up at me all innocent like.

"It most certainly is not _love_."

She laughs. "I was going to say lust, but if you wanna go with love…" she trails off, an impish grin on her face.

"I don't want to get my heart set on her and have to keep my distance."

"Surely you can get around that silly rule." Leave it to my mother to encourage me to break the law in order to give her some more grandkids.

"It's not just a silly rule, Mom. I could go to jail. It's actually a law."

"Oh." Apparently, like most of the country, she thought Don't Ask, Don't Tell only pertained to homosexuals in the military.

"It's there for her protection, actually, so I plan on obeying it." I shift my weight to one foot. "I'm afraid it's already too late, though."

"Really?" She perks up upon hearing that.

I really shouldn't have told her that. "Yeah. I found myself telling her things that my unit in the Gulf didn't even know."

"Like what?" As much as my family loves each other, we love tormenting each other just as much, if not more.

"Like how Stacy, Amanda and Rosemarie used to dress me like a doll and force me to bake for their tea parties."

"Yeah?" There's a twinkle in her blue eyes that wasn't there just a few moments before. I know that as soon as I leave she'll be telling my dad all about this.

"Yeah. Her whole face lights up when she laughs and her eyes sparkle like emeralds."

"Oh, Ev," Mom sighs. "You know you're kidding yourself, right?"

My head drops back on my neck and I stare at the ceiling for a couple of seconds. "Yeah, Mom, I do." I lift my head to look her in the eye. "I was hoping, well, you know." Despite what Mom said earlier, I don't fall this quickly.

"What are you going to do, Baby?" She takes my face between her hands again.

I let my mother fold me into her embrace. "I'm going to bury my feelings and do my job."

"You come home more often, okay? Let me take care of your broken heart."

Pulling back, I just barely refrain from rolling my eyes. "I don't plan on letting her break it, Mom."

"I know, Baby, but it might happen anyway."

A soft smile crosses my face at this display of how much my mother loves me. "I know, Mom. I'll come home as often as I can and that still doesn't mean every weekend."

She huffs and dusts invisible lint off my shirt. "I have half a mind to call that CO of yours and give him what for, for working my baby so much."

If I thought for even one minute she was serious, let's just say, I'd be requesting a transfer to McMurdo before she could even finish dialing the number. "But you won't because you know how much my career means to me, right?"

"Of course, Baby." She pats my cheek. "Want some coffee for the road?"

"Sure." My mother not only bakes and cooks like a pro but she makes the best coffee I've ever tasted.

Thermos in hand, a motherly kiss to the cheek, a fatherly pat on the back (he poked his head in when Mom hollered that I was leaving) and the usual admonishments to behave and only kill the bad guys, I take my leave. Going home always leaves me feeling slightly guilty. I mean, I'm my father's only son and I insisted on going into the military and making a career out of it, instead of getting my CPA and helping with his financial planning business. That's not to say that my sisters couldn't have helped, they just didn't want to anymore than I did. But then I remember that all three sisters married men who love numbers and accounting as much as our father and I don't feel so bad.  
= = =  
"You're late," I tell Astra the next morning when I hear her enter the shooting range behind me.

"By like a minute!" This woman is going to try my patience right to the very end.

I don't even look up from where I'm arranging the weapons on the table in front of me. "So what you're saying is that when your military parents said 0800 they actually meant 0801?"

"Of course not." Something in her tone has me looking at her from the corner of my eye.

I can see just how uncomfortable she is here but I can't let it sway me. I _can_ , however, help her overcome her apprehension of guns. "I expect much better from you once we go off-world. Am I understood?"

"Why are you such a hardass?" She hasn't come any closer than the door at the back of the room.

Sensing that she's much like a skittish colt right now, I straighten up from where I'm bent over the table and approach her slowly. "I have to be now so that when your ass is on the line you'll obey instantly. It's how drill instructors work. Start out hard and then once obeying is second nature, ease up some."

"So you won't always talk to me like I'm a disobedient child or like you hate me?" She still hasn't moved any closer but at least she hasn't run away.

"Absolutely." I smile and my heart flips over when she smiles back. _Don't go there, Evan! This one's bad news and so very much off limits._ "Now, here are the weapons I want you to at least know how to fire." I turn back to the table, escorting her with a hand on the small of her back, and it's assortment of weapons from a 9mm pistol to a Jaffa staff weapon. "The ones you'll be using the most are these." I point out the pistols, zats and P90s. "Some team leaders prefer the M-16 assault rifle for their team. I prefer the P90. It's light weight, compact and just about anyone can shoot it." I point at the pistols at the end of the table. "Here we have several different types of 9mm. The Berretta is the type used by most of the gate teams as their sidearm. I've found most women have problems with how heavy it is, so I suggest you try the Sig. It's the gun my sisters use." I tap one finger against the grip of the gun in question. "Go ahead and pick it up."

She glares up at me. "I'm left handed and it's lying in the position for a right handed person. How the hell am I supposed to pick it up?"

"And here I thought you were smart," I snap back. "I'm fairly sure that giant brain of yours can figure out how to pick it up."

She huffs out a breath before picking up the gun with her left hand. I admit it is a bit awkward, what with the way she has to turn her hand, but she manages it.

"How's it feel?" I ask, leaning one hip against the table and crossing my arms over my chest.

"I don't like guns," she says, laying it down like she thinks it'll bite her.

"Too bad." I pick it up and eject the magazine. "First thing you need to learn is gun safety. We'll start with how to load a gun." Using my thumb, I empty the magazine of bullets. "A 9mm holds fifteen rounds; fourteen in the magazine and one in the chamber." I thumb the safety which has the chambered round popping out into my hand. "When you load this gun, you put all fifteen rounds in the magazine-" I put action to words, pressing the bullets into the magazine with practiced ease and speed. "-then you put the magazine into the grip-" Again I show her what I mean. "-and set the safety, then chamber the round, which most people think means the gun has been cocked." With a click, I load the gun before setting it back down. "Now you try." I motion for her to do what I just showed her.

She wrinkles her nose at me. "Do I have to?"

I close my eyes and mentally count to ten in an effort to not reach out and strangle her. "If you want to be on my team, yes you do."

She squares her shoulders. "I'll remind you that I didn't _ask_ to be on your team, Major."

"Perfect," I respond, clapping my hands, then rubbing them together before beginning to pick up the weapons on the table. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go find myself a scientist who will follow my orders without question." I'm not sure how to describe the noise she makes but it's enough to let me know what she thinks of that. I turn from my task and lift one brow at her. "I take it you don't like that idea?"

Her eyes narrow on my face. "You have any idea how long I've waited to be a member of a gate team?"

I dip my head to hide my smile. "I'm fairly certain I have an idea." I again lean one hip against the table and cross my arms over my chest. "So I'm gonna say this one last time; you're a member of _my_ gate team and that means you _will_ know how to defend yourself. My men and I won't always be around, or able, to defend you should we get in trouble." I lean close and point my finger at her nose, watching as her eyes cross from her keeping it in sight. "If you question me _one more time_ , I won't threaten to kick you off, I'll just do it. Am I clear?"

Her chin tips up and she stands up so straight that my spine twinges in sympathy. "Crystal." Her tone of voice leaves a lot to be desired but I'll take it.

"Excellent. Now, shall we continue with your lesson?"

After a moment's hesitation, she picks up the gun and fumbles a bit before she locates the eject button. Slowly, as if afraid the bullets will go off, she begins popping the bullets from the magazine, then just as slowly puts them back. When she picks the gun up again to replace the magazine, I stop her with a hand on her arm. "You forgot a step." She frowns up at me and I just raise one eyebrow.

After several seconds her frown at me turns into a frown at herself. Some more fumbling ensues before she manages to find the safety and the chambered round pops out into her hand. She adds it to the ones in the magazine and again picks up the gun to slide the magazine into place. With her tongue poking out the side of her mouth, she presses the safety and the slides moves into place with a click. She then chambers a round like a pro.

With a pat to her shoulder, I smile and say, "That wasn't so hard, now was it?"

She grimaces and shrugs, dislodging my hand. "I suppose not. Doesn't mean I like guns anymore than I did before."

"That's all right. We'll skip how to clean one for now and move on to how to shoot." Taking hold of her shoulders, I step behind her and move her into the proper stance; shoulders back, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, arms extended in front at shoulder height, elbows slightly bent and her right hand cupping the gun in her left hand. She automatically puts her finger on the trigger and I move it to the side.

"Never touch the trigger until you're ready to fire." She nods her understanding. "Also, at first at least, you might want to get used to firing with your middle finger with your forefinger alongside the gun, pointing at the target because where your point, you shoot." Stepping back, I place a paper target on a clip and send it zipping down range. "Here." I turn her to face me and hand her a pair of safety goggles and earmuffs. She sets the gun down and puts them on. I do the same and move to stand behind her again to make sure she's in the proper position. "Now, this gun does have a kick to it but as long as you don't lock your elbows it won't be a problem." Keeping my hands on her shoulders in support, I step back. Just before she fires I remember something else I need to tell her. "Oh, also, don't close your eyes and don't _pull_ the trigger, _squeeze_ it."

She looks at me over her shoulder and huffs a sigh before turning around and firing. Her first shot has her staggering back from the force of the kick. I catch her before she can fall. "You didn't warn me about that!" she yells, shrugging my hands from her shoulders.

"Because the kick isn't that forceful." I turn her back around. "So stop being a brat and do what I've told you to do." She huffs but straightens her glasses and picks the gun back up and aims at the paper target again.

The time when she fires, she only flinches. I tell her to go ahead and empty the magazine. She keeps squeezing the trigger for a few seconds after the magazine is empty, then chuckles when she realizes what she did. I press the button to have the target return to us and she gives a tiny squeal when she sees that she managed to hit the white part of the target.

I turn my chuckle into a cough when she glares at me. "You're supposed to hit the black part. Specifically right here." I touch the center of the target right over the heart.

"First time firing a weapon, Major," she reminds me with a sniff.

"Fair enough. But by the time I'm done with you, you'll be, if not an excellent shot, then at least a decent one."

She gives me a look over her shoulder that tells me exactly what she thinks of that. I can't stop the laugh that escapes which earns me another glare that has my dick twitching. _Fuck!_

"That was good, right? I mean for someone who's never fired a gun before that was good, right?"

I shrug one shoulder. "For a first timer. Sure." She beams at me and I really hate to burst her bubble but I can't abide liars. "But you're not a newbie, are you?" She frowns up at me. "You should be aware, Princess, that I've spoken with your brother and know for a fact that you've handled a gun before."

Her eyes narrow on my face. "You talked to my brother about me?"

"I didn't seek him out, for what it's worth but when I found myself on the treadmill next to him, I took the opportunity to get some pointers in dealing with you."

"You underhanded bastard," she hisses. "You had no right."

"I had every right seeing as your being as co-operative as a wet cat in a thunderstorm. But I clearly said I didn't seek him out. I merely took advantage when opportunity presented itself."

"So what'd he tell you?"

"That you don't respond well to bullying."

"And yet here you are…" She waves one hand to indicate our entire interaction since she arrived.

"This isn't bullying, Princess. This is being stern. Better learn the difference."

"What else did he tell you?" I can tell she's trying to find out if Darcy told any secrets.

"He didn't go into any details, just said that a past relationship has made you the kind of person who hunkers down when bullied."

"He…he didn't say anything else?" Her eyes are as wide as saucers and I can see her fight or flight reflex starting to kick in. Whoever the son of a bitch is, he had better never cross my path.

"Didn't need details. Still don't actually." I spin her to face the range and send another paper target zipping down to the end. "Now, stop wasting my time and show me what you can do." She takes a deep breath, picks up the gun and loads it like a pro before emptying the magazine with little effort. "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" I ask, pressing the button to get the target to return.

"You have no idea, Major." Something about her tone is off but I just shrug it off; as long as she acts as expected I couldn't care less if she likes me or not.

I give a low whistle when her target comes close enough to see clearly. She not only hit the black every time, she has a very nice cluster dead center in the 'heart'. "Pretending it was me, were you?"

She puts her nose in the air and refuses to speak unless absolutely necessary for the rest of the hour I have set aside for her lesson.

"Oh, by the way, Doc," I call her back just as she tries to make good her escape. "Don't blame your brother. I may not have sought him out but I did kinda ambush him. And just so ya know, he didn't want to tell me what he did. I forced him to. So, yeah. Just saying." Having said my piece, because I'd really rather her be angry with me than Darcy, I turn my back and begin cleaning up.

"Why?" Her softly spoken question brings a smile to my face.

"Why, what?"

I can hear her grind her teeth. "Why'd you ask? Why do you call me 'Princess'? Why's the sky blue? Take your pick?"

I turn to face her, chewing my tongue to keep a grin off my face. "Why's the sky blue? You're a scientist and you're asking _me_ that?" She huffs and raises one brow. "Right. I asked because I don't want conflict off-world. You came highly recommended and I trust Jackson's opinion so I don't really want anyone else. As for why I call you 'Princess'-" I shrug. "-you're acting like one."

Ignoring her outraged squeak, I turn once again to collect the weapons and return them to the armory. "You're a prick, you know that, right? Your mother would be appalled at your treatment of me."

I freeze in place when she calls me a prick. While it's not the first time someone's called me that, it has been a while. "You don't know what my mother would find appalling in our interactions, Princess." I stalk her where she's still standing in the doorway. "I rather think she'd be appalled at _your_ behavior. You come from a military family and work at a military installation and yet you act like you have no clue how this all works." I push just hard enough on her shoulder to get her to take a step back. "As of this moment, consider yourself removed from my team. I've decided you're not worth the headache." I turn my back and march back into the firing range, putting her firmly from my mind.

"Major?" Her voice trembles like she's trying to suppress tears.

I don't even turn around. "No dice, Princess. I warned you. I'm done."

"Please, Major! I promise to behave."

I spin on my heel to face her. "You promised that before. I warned you. Now I'm done." I slash the air with my hand and go back to pretending she doesn't exist.

Eventually she turns and leaves and I feel her departure like a great loss; like I just let the best thing to ever happen to me walk out the door. I have to ignore it. Tamp down the urge to call her back; to apologize for being so hard but I can't. If she's to ever be part of a team - _truly_ part of a team - she has to learn how to obey without question.

Bracing my hands on the table, I let my head hang down between my arms and force myself to just breathe; reminding myself that this is for her own good, the good of whichever team is unlucky enough to have her because her constant questioning authority and refusal to follow orders _will_ get someone killed one of these days and I for one don't want to be one of the ones at risk.  
= = =  
Four hours later I'm in my office, studying the list of scientists (ones with a rank this time), _again_ , in order to, hopefully, find my geek when Jackson knocks on the frame. "Got a minute, Major?" he asks in a tone that implies it's not a request.

"Sure, Doc." Half standing, I motion to one of the chairs in front of my desk. "What can I do for you?"

"It's about Astra." He sits in one of the chairs and crosses one leg over the other, a grim expression on his face.

I swallow a sigh. "Let me guess: she told you I was being mean."

"Not directly, no."

My brows lower in a frown. "What does that mean?"

To give him his due, Jackson looks uncomfortable. "She told Darcy, who told his CO, who told Jack…" He trails off with a shrug.

"Huh," I grunt. "So, you're O'Neill's message boy?"

Jackson's face goes blank but his eyes heat up. "No." The word is clipped and shows just why so many bad guys fear him as much, if not more, than they fear O'Neill.

"Then what, Doctor Jackson?"

"I'm here to get your side."

"My side."

"Yes. I want to know why you kicked her off your team."

"I can speak freely?" I ask, mindful of the fact that she's his protégé and has a special relationship with the whole of SG-1.

"Not your CO, Major."

I concede his point with a nod. "Very well. Just remember: you asked."

I take a deep breath before saying, "The woman is the biggest pain I have ever encountered and I have sisters. She's arrogant, egotistical and argumentative. Everything I said she countered. She tried to convince me she has no experience with guns; tried to play the helpless female, then got upset when I dismissed her."

Pausing to let what I've said so far sink in, and to gauge his reaction, I continue once it becomes clear he's not going to berate me. "She can't have it both ways, Doc. Either she's treated like one of the men or she's left behind as a helpless, useless female. I have no time for the latter. I _need_ the former. And now I'm looking for a geek with a rank. Someone I can trust to watch my six."

"Mmhm," he hums. "I totally understand your position. _But_ she needs to be a permanent part of a team."

"Is this an order?" I ask, anger flaring briefly. If O'Neill wanted to make his pet scientist happy by having the woman on a permanent team, all he had to do was order it instead of letting me think the decision was up to me.

"Does it need to be?"

Exactly as I feared. "It just might."

Jackson leans forward and braces his elbows on his knees. "Let me put it this way, Major: due to circumstances beyond Jack's control, Astra has to be off-world for at least half the time."

 _Circumstances beyond O'Neill's control…_ It hits me like a two-by-four between the eyes. "Why would a jerk like that be allowed to join the program?"

"Hayes says he has a skill we need." Jackson sits back and shrugs.

"I am correct in thinking he abused her, right?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that." He nods his head.

"Did that bastard at least spend some time behind bars?"

Jackson sighs. "No. He got off on a technicality. It did take him off the promotion grid for almost the rest of his career, though."

"He's military and he wasn't given a dishonorable discharge?"

"He has some powerful friends."

"Must have," I mutter, running the fingers of one hand through my hair. There is only one way this will - _can_ \- end, much as I hate it. "Fine. _But_ -" I hold up one finger when he opens his mouth. "-I have some conditions." He nods and waves his hand in a 'go on' motion. "First, I want a sincere apology. Second, I want her promise to obey without question. And third, if she even so much as sasses me or my men, she's off my team. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Agreed?"

He smiles. "Agreed. Do you want her this afternoon?"

"No, tomorrow morning will do."

With a nod he stands up. "She's not to know why we're insisting she be part of your team."

"Understood."

"He messed her up pretty good. Physically and emotionally."

I huff a humorless laugh. "Yeah, I've been on the receiving end of the emotional part."

He turns at the door. "You going to be okay with this?"

I purse my lips and think about it. "Probably not but I'm nothing if not a team player. I'll make the most of it and just hope she doesn't drive me and/or my men to murder her in her sleep."

Jackson chooses to take my statement as a joke and chuckles. "Yeah. Wouldn't do to have the whole of the Australian Air Force out for your blood."

"No, I don't suppose it would."

With another nod, he exits my office leaving me even more frustrated than before. I pick up a pen just to have something to throw down; the act not nearly as satisfying as I had hoped it would be.

"Well, _fuck_!" I scrub my hands over my face and blow out a breath. "That woman will be the death of me. Just you hide 'n' watch."


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning I arrive at the firing range to find her already there.

"Doctor Owen." I keep my voice as neutral as possible, hoping she'll get that she's back on my team without my approval.

"Major." To give her credit, her tone conveys a sincere emotion; not sure it's the one I want but it is there. "I am so sorry for how I behaved."

"Are you? Truly?" Refusing to look at her, I continue on to the gun cabinet.

"Yes. Darcy, Jack, Daniel, even Sam and Teal'c, have all told me I was in the wrong. Jack even asked me to relay his apology for pampering me."

"Did he, now?" Collecting the guns I want her to use, I step around her to the table.

"Yes. Major,-" She steps into my path and stops me with a hand on my arm. "-I truly am sorry. I tend to paint all men with the same brush as my ex-husband and blame them all for his mistakes. I'm working on it; trying to judge everyone on their own merits and not compare them to _him_."

"That right?" I search her face, looking for any sign that she's being less than truthful with me.

"Yes. Please, Major. Give me one more chance. I promise I'll behave."

I huff a humorless laugh. "You say that like I have a choice."

She blinks at me for several seconds. "You should know that I had _nothing_ to do with that. I only asked to be made a permanent part of _a_ team. In fact, I begged Jack to put me on someone else's team."

"Like O'Neill was going to break up a team that was already working well together when he could just form one for you." I can't help the irritation that leaks into my tone.

She shrugs. "People transfer out all the time. I was willing to wait for that to happen. I really didn't want him to create a team just for me. Regardless of what you think, I do not think I'm that special." That last gives me pause; it never occurred to me that O'Neill created this team just for her, despite being told that Hayes is insisting that her ex join the program. And now that it has, I find myself choking on my anger at the SOB who hurt her all over again.

"Don't flatter yourself, Princess. He didn't create this team just for you. He's forcing me into command."

She beams at me. "That must mean he likes you. I mean, if he's grooming you for command, right?"

" _Or_ he doesn't like me and sees this as his opportunity to get me out of his mountain more often. Could go either way with him." She concedes my point with a nod of her head. 

"Rifles? Really, Major?" She turns uncertain eyes on me when she finally notices the guns I'm setting on the table.

"Yep. And machine guns, too. I told you yesterday that I expect you to be proficient with all available weapons but only excellent with a few."

With a sigh, she steps up to the table and picks up a P90 before walking to the range and donning her safety equipment. "Don't see why we have to wear this in here when we don't out in the field."

"Because there are other dangers in the field."

The look she gives me over her shoulder has me coughing to cover my chuckle. "So very glad I could amuse you, Major," she quips before turning her attention to the paper target. I step up behind her and make minute changes to her stance, then stand aside and watch her 'kill' the paper.

Now that she's not trying to get away with pretending to be helpless, she manages to surprise me with how good a shot she is. Most of her rounds hit the 'heart' with several going through the same hole.

"See? When you stop trying to get away with being something you're not, you actually do well and the time flies," I say and she finishes emptying the magazine on an AK-15.

Her mouth opens in a little 'oh' of surprise when she looks at her watch and sees that several hours have passed. "Does this mean I pass?"

"This wasn't the test, Princess." She glares at me. "What? Your CO can't give you the test. And neither can O'Neill. Not sure who will, truth be told, but someone will be here in the next week or so to conduct it."

Before she can respond, her stomach rumbles. "Guess that means it's time for lunch," she chuckles sheepishly.

"I told Ames and Blackthorne to meet in one of the briefing rooms today at noon." A quick glance at my watch tells me we have just enough time. "Let's grab a couple of trays and head over there now."

She extends one arm toward the door. "Lead the way, Major."

Luckily the line in the mess is short and moving fast and we're in and out in less than twenty minutes.

Astra turns up her nose at the healthy food I pile on my plate while loading hers with a hamburger and other junk foods; telling me it hasn't proved to be bad for her health. _Yet,_ I mentally add.

On the walk through the halls she proves she's a true SGC geek by eating while walking and talking. It's a good thing I learned early on how to get the gist with just a few words. And to not be grossed out at the sight of half eaten food in someone's mouth; although that last can be blamed on my sisters.

Ames and Blackthorne are already in the briefing room when we arrive. Both have trays in front of them showing that they stopped in the mess as well.

"Thank you for being prompt." I know I don't have to thank them for something that's been drilled into them since basic but I want to be the kind of CO whose team follows him because they respect and like him, not because they fear him or think he's a hardass.

Blackthorne and Ames murmur their response, neither looking up from their lunch tray which surprises me because they should have jumped to attention upon the arrival of a superior officer. But I let it slide due to the distinct feeling that Astra and I have interrupted something.

"Corporal Bear Blackthorne, Captain Johann Ames, meet Doctor Astra Owen."

"Ma'am." They both _finally_ stand and dip their heads in acknowledgement of my introduction.

"Ames will be my 2IC and Blackthorne is our explosives expert. Doctor Owen is our resident geek. She'll double check any text found as well as dating any ruins found."

Astra and I take seats next to Blackthorne and Ames, respectfully, and across from each other.

"So-" I begin. "-I thought we'd all tell how we ended up here."

For the rest of the afternoon, we trade stories about everything from our childhoods to interesting bits of trivia that we know. The laughter flows freely and by the end of the day I feel we're well on our way to becoming a real family. I can't keep the pleased grin off my face at the knowledge that I personally picked this team. Yes, even Astra's presence is pleasing to me at this moment in time.

"Alright, guys!" I call about four hours after we started our team 'meeting'. "As y'all know, we're a 'second look' team. That means we'll be spending _a lot_ of time off world together. This afternoon has shown me that we won't have any issues getting along. O'Neill has assured me that our first mission won't be for some months, yet. So, take the weekend, rest, have fun-" The look that passes between Blackthorne and Ames tells me they heard that as 'get laid'. "-and I'll see you all back here bright and early Monday morning for our first team exercise."

All three of them gather their stuff; Ames and Blackthorne making plans to go bar crawling together. The two men exit the room shoulder to shoulder totally oblivious to their surroundings beyond keeping the appearance that they're just two team mates going out for a good time together.

Astra makes good her escape through the other door, leaving me alone in the tiny room. I sit for a moment in the silence and plan how the next few months of training will go. In addition to the mandatory simulations, I plan on taking the team out camping to get them used to sharing tents and relying on each other for survival.

"Major?" A voice startles me out of my thoughts making my pen skip across the paper I'm writing on.

"Yes, Private?" I stand and begin gathering my things.

"Just wondering if you're done. The next meeting's set to start shortly."

"Yeah. Sorry. Got lost in thought." I smile at the young man as I pass him on my way out the door.

"Have a good weekend, Sir," he says, returning my smile.

"You, too."  
= = =  
My evening is the exact same as any other when I'm on Earth. I stop at the store to grab something to cook since I don't keep perishables due to never knowing when I'll be off world or for how long, go home, get it started, shower, cook, eat while watching the news or a game, fall into bed and sleep the sleep of the dead. Sometimes I call Mom and occasionally I go see them for the weekend. Since I was just there, I skip the call.

Big mistake.

When I wake the next morning, it's to find the day too beautiful to spend inside. So I grab my sketch book, some pencils and a couple pieces of charcoal and head out to the park across the street. I find a shaded bench in front of a group of squirrels and begin to sketch them.

As always happens when I'm sketching, I lose track of time. Until one of my sisters plops down on the bench next to me, that is.

"Squirrels, Eve, really?" I swallow a frustrated sigh at her use of the hated childhood nickname. Her and our sisters wanted another girl so they pretended I was one. Until I got big enough to put a stop to it.

"You don't have to look at it if it bothers you, Stace." I growl low in my throat and wipe away the tail of one squirrel that just won't come out right. It's not the right amount of fluffy and the poor guy just looks so sad without it.

"So sensitive, this military brother of mine." Sarcasm is thick in her voice.

I just roll my eyes. "What can I do for you?"

"Haven't seen you in a while." She shrugs. "Figured since I was in the neighborhood, I'd stop by.""

Alarm bells begin going off in my head and I look up from my sketch to narrow my eyes at her. My sisters in general, and Stacy in particular, are never 'just in the neighborhood'. "What's wrong?"

"Who says something's wrong? Can't a girl visit her baby brother?" And now she sounds defensive.

"Uh-huh, no. You don't ever just 'drop by' my apartment despite living less than a mile away. And especially since you never know when I might be on a mission." While my sisters don't know what I do, they do know more than Mom.

"Mom said you'd just gotten back. Figured she'd know better than anyone if you were in town or not."

And she would. Usually. If I'm going to be off world more than a few days, I tell her because she'd worry. "There's still a reason you're here, now spill."

"You didn't call Mom last night."

I _knew_ that would come back and bite me on the ass. "It had been a long week. I got home late."

"Never stopped you before but there was always this morning, too."

"Truthfully? I didn't think about it." I pack up my supplies. It's obvious I'm not going to get that one squirrel's tail just right, besides he scampered off while Stacy and I were talking.

"What!?" Stacy grabs my arm. "You _always_ call Mom. Even when you're on a mission you find a way to let her know you're okay."

I shrug and lead the way back across the street to my apartment. "What can I say? I was just there for a visit so I didn't think she'd worry. It's not like I call her every day."

"Maybe not but you do tend to call on the weekends." Of all our sisters, Stacy is the one I'm closest to and she uses her knowledge to pour on the guilt.

Neither of us says anything else until we're in my apartment. "It's soon going to be too difficult for me to call every week. Maybe I'm trying to get her used to it."

Stacy snorts. "Yeah, right." With my back turned, I roll my eyes at her not believing me. "Oooo. Evan, she's gorgeous."

Panic flares in my chest when I spin around and find her flipping through my sketch book. "Nosey, much, Stace?" I snatch the book from her, flip it closed and put it in a drawer.

"What?" She blinks at me. "Who is she, Nave?" Again she uses a childhood nickname to try and guilt me into rolling over and telling her what she wants to know.

"No one." I lean back against the table with my arms crossed over my chest. "Why are you still here?"

One eyebrow climbs her forehead in a fair imitation of our mother when she's getting angry. "Just trying to find out what's going on with you. It's not like you to ignore Mom like this."

I huff a breath and tilt my head back to stare at the ceiling. "Not ignoring her, Stacy. I've had a difficult week and was just trying to decompress before starting my new job Monday."

"Mom mentioned you got a promotion."

"Not exactly a promotion." Why can't my mother understand that?

"You're the leader of a team, right?" I nod. "Then it's a promotion." She hip checks me hard enough that I take a couple of steps away from the drawer and she has it opened and the sketch pad out before I can even register that she did it on purpose. "She really is beautiful. Is this her?" Stacy looks up at me and points at a sketch of Astra firing a gun that I did from memory.

"Is that who?" I know who she means but I refuse to give her any more ammunition.

"Please. You think you're the only one Mom talks to?"

I narrow my eyes on her face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Stacy shrugs. "Mom worries about you and she worries even more when you don't call on schedule."

"And you're tired of hearing about it?"

"No! Evan,-" She sighs. "Evan, you're my brother and I love you. I freely admit I was jealous of your relationship with Mom when we were younger but her and I have a good one now. I just don't like seeing her worry, is all." She lets me take the pad from her. "If there's anything you can do to stop her worrying, please do it." I nod my understanding of her plea and begin thinking of a way to convince O'Neill to let my family have the proper security clearance.

Finally, after forcing me to bake her cookies, she heads back home, leaving me to clean up the mess she always seems to leave behind. As I clean, our conversation plays in my mind and I just have to wonder why she's so concerned with Mom's stress level all of a sudden. And then it hits me. It's not all of a sudden. Stacy must be pregnant again and is worried about _her_ stress level because while Mom and I have an extremely close relationship, when she can't get in touch with me she calls my sisters, specifically Stacy, to vent her worries.

For the first time, ever, I do not look forward to going back to work come Monday morning. On the drive in, I go over what I want to say to O'Neill and hope he understands and agrees.

The meeting with O'Neill goes about as well as I expect it to. He listens to what I have to say then asks a lot of repetitive questions. By the time he gives his approval for my family to get the clearance needed to know exactly what I do, I have the beginnings of a world class migraine.

And spending the day bickering with Astra while trying to ignore what is most definitely a growing attraction between Ames and Blackthorne does absolutely nothing to make it better. In fact, Astra's attitude makes it worse and I find myself snapping at her even when she does something right.

When I catch her fighting tears toward the end of the day I feel bad for how I've treated her but I refuse to apologize; knowing it'll make her better in the long run. O'Neill admitted that he did her no favors by pampering her in the field and I happen to agree. She has had it way too easy in the past and the sooner she realizes that the better for us all.

The rest of the week isn't much better, although I do manage to dial back on the aggressive way I've been treating her. Well, I manage to dial it back _some_. Everything she does seems to rub me the wrong way. By the end of the week we're all on edge enough that O'Neill tells me to give my team some time off, despite the fact that we just had a weekend off.

I don't argue because I know this is the weekend he's agreed to tell my family what I do. I am _so_ not looking forward to this.

When I called Mom to tell her to have everyone at the house Saturday, I didn't tell her anything despite her nagging. In fact, it gets so bad that I have to start ducking her calls which does nothing to improve her mood.

The meeting with my family, O'Neill and Jackson goes about as well as I expect it to. My sisters and brothers-in-law all look at me like they've never seen me before. My father has never looked prouder. And my mother… well she goes very quiet and still. I've never seen her like this before and I'm worried about what it could mean.

Before Jackson is even finished explaining what the gate can do, she excuses herself and leaves the room. 

I find her on the porch swing out back. The look she gives me has me wishing I hadn't told her what I do.

"Mom…" I have no idea what to say.

"Oh, Evan!" Tears run down her face. "You leave the planet!?"

Swallowing a sigh, I sit next to her on the swing. "I keep the planet safe, Mom."

"But-" She turns to face me. "-you _leave the freaking planet_! What if something was to happen to you on another planet, huh? What would happen then?"

"Same thing that would happen if I was injured or killed in the Middle East. You would be told as little as possible."

"And now?"

"Now you'll be told the truth." She leans her head on my shoulder and sniffs. "I thought telling you would make this easier for you."

"You leave the planet, Evan! What about that makes you think it would be easier for me to know?"

"O'Neill has agreed to keep you in the loop, more or less, when I'm off-world. My new job is much less dangerous than my old one. My team and I will be going back to planets that other teams have already explored."

"What were you doing before?" 

"When I first joined the program I was on one of the teams that went exploring. Then I was assigned as second in command of a team that was mining for a mineral not found on Earth."

"How is that dangerous? Or were you in the mine digging for this mineral?"

"No I wasn't doing any of the mining. It was on a different planet, Mom. There was the danger of insects and animals not seen on Earth. Not to mention the natives. We managed to make friends with them and get their assistance with the mining."

"So the natives were dangerous?"

I sigh. "Yes, Mom. But then again, lots of things are dangerous."

She echoes my sigh. "I suppose there is at that." 

We sit on the swing, swaying gently, for several long moments. My mother and I have never had a moment of awkward silence between us. Until now. I feel like I should say something but I have no clue as to what that should be and she seems to be equally at a loss for words.

Finally I say, "Mom." She turns to face me, her eyes brimming with tears. "Mom, please." I'm not sure exactly what I'm asking for.

"You have no idea just how proud I am of you; out there saving the galaxy." I'm not sure what I was expecting her to say but that most assuredly wasn't it. She takes my face in her hands. "You are a hero and the world will never know! And I can never brag about you! Oh, Evan!" She playfully slaps my arm. "How could you put me in this position?" With a huff, she flops back against the swing, shaking her head.

"God, Mom, I love you." I chuckle.

"Of course you do. You have the best mother in the world!"

"I do at that." Leaning over, I kiss her cheek.

She pats my thigh. "Such a good boy, Evan. You make me so very proud."

"You said that already."

"Bears repeating." She rests her head on my shoulder. 

Closing my eyes, I rest my cheek on her hair. "I have wanted to tell you for the longest time."

"I'm glad you did it now. Not sure I would have been able to handle it before."

"Major?" Jackson pokes his head out the back door. "Jack says it's time to go."

"Of coruse!" My mother sits up, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Thank you for coming, Doctor Jackson."

"Please, Mrs. Lorne, call me Daniel." He smiles at her.

She smiles back. "Then you must call me Gayle."

"Gayle." He dips his head. "You have a lovely home. Thank you for allowing us in."

"My pleasure. Here,-" She stands up. "-let me show you and the General out." Jackson steps aside and, with one hand to the small of her back, follows her back inside.

After O'Neill and Jackson leave, my family bombards me with questions; questions I can now answer, although I do steer the conversation away from some of the more embarrassing things that have happened to me. We end up talking into the wee hours of the night. 

Due to the late hour, we all end up staying over. My sisters are giddy at the prospect of a sleepover; since we all live relatively close we don't usually spend the night.

Knowing my family as I do, I know they're going to ask even more questions over breakfast and this time the questions might not be the ones I want to answer. So I wait until I'm sure everyone is asleep before exiting the house intent on heading back to my apartment.

"Mom'll be upset if you're not at breakfast."

One hand on the door handle of my truck, I drop my head. So close, I was so fucking close. "You don't understand, Mandy."

"Don't understand what, Ev?" Mandy, my oldest sister, places one hand on my shoulder and turns me to face her.

"She'll ask questions I don't want to answer. I know that leaving now won't stop her from asking them, but it will postpone when I have to answer them."

"Evan? Amanda?" Mom steps out onto the back porch. "What are you two doing?"

Mandy and I share a look. "I'm gonna go back inside." Mandy abandons me to the not so tender mercies of our mother.

"Traitor!" I call to her retreating back which she responds to with her middle finger. "Mom! Did you see that?"

Mom turns to look at the closed door. "See what?"

I sigh and shake my head. "Nothing."

"What's wrong, Evan?" Mom puts one hand on my arm.

"Nothing, Mom."

"Evan." Her voice takes on a sharp note. "I'm your mother. Don't lie to me."

Leaning back against the truck, I run the fingers of one hand through my hair. "It's all the questions. I know I can answer them now but that doesn't mean I should."

She nods. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'll back off and tell the others to back off too."

"Thanks."

"Come back inside? It's been way too long since I've had all of you here at the same time."

"Oh, yeah. Christmas two years ago was such a long time ago."

She chuckles and smacks my arm. "Hush you." With a sigh, she leans into my side and lays her head on my shoulder. "I know I can be a bit much. I'm sorry."

I lean my head against hers. "It's fine, really. I know you do it because you care."

"Come back inside? Please?" She tugs on my arm.

Knowing it'll make her happy, I give in and decide that if my family wants to know _everything_ about what I do, then I'll tell them just what they want to know. 

Breakfast is almost an exact repeat of all the ones we shared as children: everyone talking over everyone else, minor squabbles over the last of the bacon and a small food fight that is brought to an abrupt end when Mom gets hit in the face with a handful of scrambled eggs.

There's dead silence for a very long moment and it's almost like no one's even breathing. And then Mom laughs while wiping the eggs from her face. "It's so good having you all here." She stands and Dad follows suit. "And now you can all clean up the mess you've made."

As they walk out of the room, Dad adds, "Without making another mess." He walks backward through the swinging door and makes the 'I'm watching you' motion with his hand.

About two seconds after the door swings shut, all seven of us collapse in laughter and begin cleaning up the kitchen. And if it takes us nearly twice as long as it should because we can't help but have a water fight, well that's not something our parents need to know.  
= = =  
Three weeks later it's obvious that I have to take my team camping. I know exactly how Astra will react to not only the camping but also the sleeping arrangements.

"You want us to what!?" Yep, there it is.

"When we're on a mission we'll be sleeping in tents. I think we need to get used to being reliant on each other which is why I've scheduled a camping trip."

"No." Astra shakes her head. "Not on your life!"

"So O'Neill was always able to find you a house with modern plumbing whenever you'd go off world with SG-1?" Ames steps up next to me to ask.

I point at him. "What he said."

Astra crosses her arms over her chest and huffs. "Of course not."

"So… you're objecting because it's… us?" Blackthorne comes to stand on my other side.

"What!? No!" Her mouth opens and closes and the three of us just stare at her, waiting for her to dig the hole deeper. Finally she makes a frustrated sound in the back of her throat. "I just really hate camping. And it doesn't agree with me either."

"Well, you're just gonna have to get over it, Princess. This is how we live in the field. If you don't like it…" I don't have to finish my sentence, she knows how it ends.

Heaving a huge sigh she gives in. "I really hate you, you know."

A wide grin stretches my cheeks. "Excellent. Friday we'll head out to the nearest state park where we'll spend the next three days pretending we're on a mission."

For the remainder of the week, I get nothing but attitude from Astra but I just let it wash over me, knowing that she's a lot like my sisters and it bothers her more when I don't react. Ames and Blackthorne seem to find it just as funny as I do and soon start doing things that'll make her go off on a tangent just to watch her rant and rave.

Since we're camping in a state park we're not allowed to bring our guns so it won't be just like while on a mission. But we decide to make the best of it. And I know we can as long as Astra doesn't throw a tantrum when I reveal the sleeping arrangements.

"I am not sharing a tent with you, Major!" She doesn't stomp her foot but I can tell she wants to.

I swallow a sigh. "You're not actually sharing a tent with me, Doctor. We'll have opposite watch times so we won't be in the tent at the same time."

"I don't think so!" If she isn't careful she'll be staring at the sky before too much longer.

I press my lips together and give a sharp nod of my head. "Okay." Clapping my hands I turn to Ames and Blackthorne. "Alrighty, men, pack it up!" I twirl one finger in the air. "We're going back to the mountain where I'll pick us a geek from a list of ones with a rank."

"Evan! No!" She grabs at my jacket sleeve.

I turn to face her and raise one eyebrow. "What did you just call me?"

Her jaw drops and she lets go of my sleeve like she's been burned. "Major, please."

"You've run out of chances, Princess. O'Neill agreed that if you back talked or questioned me just _one time_ -" I hold one finger up in front of her face. "-then I could kick you to the curb."

"Please, Major!" Her lip trembles and tears well in her eyes.

We stare at each other while she tries to not cry and I try and find a way to back down without undermining my authority with Ames and Blackthorne.

"Major." Her voice cracks and I know I'm done for; that from this moment on I'll do my best to make sure she's safe and happy.

"I know I'm going to regret this-" I say through gritted teeth. Before I can finish my sentence, though, she squeals and claps her hands.

When she steps toward me as if to hug me, panic flares and I take a hasty half step back, shaking my head slightly. Luckily she gets the message and contents herself with bouncing on her toes.

"Thank you, Major. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Last chance, Princess." I raise my eyebrows and try to look stern.

"Absolutely. I promise you won't regret it."

I regret it already. Waving one arm in the direction of the woods, I say, "Go help Ames collect firewood."

"Yes, Sir!" She gives a half salute that proves her military upbringing.

Cursing everyone from her ex to Hayes for putting me in this situation, I turn to find Blackthorne staring at me. "What?" I snap, not even slightly guilty for taking it out on him; shit rolls downhill and all that.

"Nothing, Sir." His voice is soft, just slightly above a whisper. "Although, if you keep giving in, you're just undermining your authority with her."

"Not like I have a choice." I run my hands through my hair in my agitation. "Can you keep a secret?" I need to tell _someone_.

He shrugs and nods. "Sure."

"Her ex will be arriving at the mountain in a few months."

"And?" He's obviously confused.

"And it was more than a nasty break up. He tried to kill her."

Blackthorne's eyebrows climb his forehead. "And he's still breathing free air?"

"My reaction exactly. Hayes says he has a skill needed at the SGC."

He gives a low whistle. "Must be the only person on the planet with that particular skill."

"Yeah, must be. Since she has an order of protection against him she _has_ to be off-world often."

Blackthorne nods and finishes for me. "Which means she has to be a member of a gate team." He tilts his head to the side and looks me over. "Must suck; knowing you got your first command because some dick managed to charm the President."

I shrug. "I may be career but I have no dreams of glory. If I make it to full bird, I'll be happy."

His brows knit in confusion. "Full bird, Sir?"

I sigh. "Forgot you're a jarhead." I grin to take the sting out of my words. "Full bird means full Colonel. The emblem is an Eagle in flight."

He snickers. "I knew that, Sir." Of course he did. "You'll get it, I'm sure."

"Yeah, well, I've been a Major for several years past the norm already."

"Guess O'Neill decided to move that along by giving you this team."

I barely refrain from rolling my eyes. "Go finish building the latrines. And make sure hers has the most privacy while still being close enough to camp for us to keep an eye on her. Don't want her to think we're getting a thrill from watching her answer the call of nature while still being able to protect her."

"Yes, Sir." He jogs off into the woods and I set about finishing setting up the tents.

When Ames and Astra return with an armload of wood each, he shows her how to build the perfect fire but doesn't light it, yet. 

Just as I'm about to suggest some tracking practice, Astra's stomach gurgles, loudly. Taking that as our cue that it's time for lunch, we each pull an MRE from our packs and sit eating them around the unlit fire.

Lunch finished, and cleaned up, I pull some wooden guns from a pack; time to see how they work as a team.

The next several hours are spent with me hiding from my team. They manage to surprise me quite often, usually before I've decided on my next hiding spot.

Eventually we return to camp where Ames shows Astra how to light the fire without matches or a lighter. It's gratifying to see him making sure she knows some survival skills.

"Ames and I have first watch. We're going to catch some shut eye so that we'll be fully rested." I look into Blackthorne's eyes. "Two hours, Corporal." At his nod, I crawl into my tent.

Finding myself unable to sleep, I stare at the play of light and shadow on the ceiling. I have never in my life met a woman as stubborn as Astra Owen, that I wasn't related to, that is.

I have no idea what I'll do the next time she argues or questions an order. I can't kick her off the team, not with the piece of shit masquerading as a military officer roaming free. Her safety comes first. Much as I hate having my hands tied in this, it has to be this way.

Even if I wasn't falling head over heels for her, my mother raised me to respect women and to protect those that can't protect themselves. And since Astra is unaware of his appointment to SGC, she can't protect herself.

I must doze off at some point because when I jerk awake at the feel of a warm hand on my foot, it's obvious some time has passed.

"Major?" Astra calls softly. "Dinner's ready."

I sit up, dislodging her small hand from where it's resting on the arch of my foot; the heat of her body soaking through the thick wool of my sock making me wish circumstances were different. "Thank you."

She backs away, allowing me to put my boots back on and crawl from the tent.

Once fully outside the tent, I can smell that someone, Blackthorne most likely, has caught a small animal to cook. Upon closer inspection I can see that it's a rabbit.

"It's not rabbit season, Corporal." I sit on one of the logs placed around the fire pit.

He shrugs. "Reservation land is just a bit that way." He flicks his head to his left. "Who's to say I didn't kill it there? Since, ya know, there's no fence to mark the boundary, Sir."

"I can't condone you breaking the law."

He stares at me blankly for a long moment. "It had a heart attack right in front of me. Isn't that right, Astra?"

She chokes on a giggle. "Sure."

I sigh and throw up my hands in surrender. "Fine. Just don't get caught. I can't protect you."

"Understood, Sir."

Ames hands me a plate with some meat and wild greens on it. "Astra found some greens to make a salad."

"Did not." Astra protests his statement with a wave of her hand.

"Okay. I found them. But she cut them up."

"Y'all were busy while I napped. How long was I out, anyway?"

"Less than two hours." Astra throws some of her salad at me. "You, Major Lorne, _snore_."

"Tell me you did not just do that." Her eyes are open real wide and I can tell she's trying for an innocent look; she even goes so far as to point at herself as if to say 'who me?'. "No dice, Princess. I saw you throw it at me. And I do not snore." I raise both eyebrows at her, trying my hardest to look stern but it's difficult when the corners of my mouth keep twitching. Plucking a piece of leafy green off my shoulder, I nonchalantly pop it in my mouth.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." I toss some greens her way and smother a chuckle at the indignant look on her face as the leaves settle in her hair.

"Alright, that does it!" And she's up in a flash, headed straight for me.

But what she doesn't know is I played football and ran track in high school. So I know how to avoid being tackled. Not to mention I have older sisters who have nothing on her when it comes to retaliation.

I dart to the other side of the fire and wait until she's almost within reach before sprinting away again. We go on like this for several minutes with Ames and Blackthorne alternately helping and hindering her efforts to catch me.

When the four of us collapse in heaps, struggling to breathe and laugh at the same time, I call a halt. "It's getting late. Ames and I have first watch. Astra, you and Blackthorne get some sleep. We'll wake you in four hours."

I watch until Astra's safely inside our tent, then turn and find Ames watching me thoughtfully.

"Your post's on the other side of the campsite, Captain," I say, ignoring the knowing look in his eyes.

"I know." He pauses to clear his throat. "Permission to speak freely?"

I mentally groan. This is not going to end well. "Permission granted." I wave one hand for him to get on with it.

"You're sending her mixed signals, Sir. That's why she's acting the way she is."

I frown at him because that's that last thing I expected him to say. "How so?"

He shifts from one foot to the other. "Well, you're stern and unforgiving one moment, give in the next and then easy-going and fun-loving the moment after that. It's very confusing. Sir." He bites his lip as if afraid of my reaction and blinks for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying the rest of what's on his mind. "It's just you shouldn't keep her on the team if you don't want her on the team. Sir." Again he gives me the respect as if it's an afterthought.

I can see I have to confide in him like I've already done with Blackthorne. "She's not here by my choice, Captain."

Now he looks really confused. "How so?"

A glance at the tent shows it's far enough away that Astra won't over hear our conversation. "I already told this to Blackthorne. Astra's not to know, understood?" I wait for him to nod. "Her ex is a nasty piece of work but he has enough friends in high places that he was able to keep his commission. And his freedom."

The storm clouds building in his eyes tell me he got my meaning. "Must be _extremely_ high places." I nod. "What's that got to do with this?"

"He's come to the attention of Homeworld Security. Hayes says he has some skill needed at the mountain."

"He must be the only person in the whole fucking universe with that skill."

I chuckle. "You and Blackthorne must share a brain."

"How so, Sir?"

"He said almost the exact same thing when I told him earlier."

Ames ducks his head and, if I'm not mistaken, a blush tints his cheeks. "Still not understanding why she has to be part of a permanent team. From what I can tell, she goes off-world often with other teams."

I nod. "This is true. However, with the restraining order against her ex, and the fact that he'll be around nearly as often as she will, the only way to keep from having him violate it is to have them both off-world at opposite times."

"So we'll be off-world when he's planet side and vice versa?"

"Yep." I can see him contemplating how to put a world of hurt on the son of a bitch. "I know what you're thinking but he's off limits. By order of O'Neill."

He growls low in this throat. "You sure about that, Sir?"

"Unfortunately. If, for some unforeseen reason, we find ourselves planet side with that mother fucker, you are to not search him out. Now, if he's harassing Astra then you can stop him. I can protect you from that. But an unprovoked attack against him, I can't protect you from that." I pause to let that set in. "Am I understood, Captain?" He nods. "Good. Now,-" I point over his shoulder. "-you're post is over there."

When he turns to walk away, I call him back. "Oh, and Captain? Make sure Blackthorne knows, too."

"Yes, Sir," he replies with a nod.

Once he's set up his post on the far side of the clearing, I take a seat on a fallen log on my side and try not to think of Astra curled up in her sleeping bag less than a hundred yards behind me.

About five minutes later, a twig snapping behind me alerts me to Astra's presence. "You really should be sleeping, Astra," I say, not even turning around.

"Why do I have to call you 'Major' or 'Lorne' but you can call me 'Astra'?"

I roll my eyes. "You're right. Won't happen again, Doctor."

"What happened, Major? Not ten minutes ago we were laughing and having a good time and now you're acting like you hate me."

"Don't hate you. Just need you to obey my orders." I get up and turn to face her.

"I just wanted…" She shakes her head instead of finishing that sentence. "Never mind. Good night, Major." She spins on her heel and begins walking back to her tent.

"Wait. You wanted, what?"

She turns back. "It's not important. Good night."

As she heads back to the tent, I frown after her, wondering what exactly she was going to say. With a shrug I put it from my mind and resume my watch.

Four hours later, I head back to the tent to wake her, only to find her already awake and sitting on the sleeping bag.

"Really? Did you even sleep?" I ask, crawling into the tent after she crawls out.

"I did. I have an excellent internal clock."

"Okay." I pull off my boots. "Got sit on the log I was sitting on and watch for intruders. If you see anything suspicious, call out."

She nods, then all but skips over to the log. I just shake my head at her antics and zip the flap before lying down.

I don't really expect to sleep, the pillow, hell the whole tent, smells like her, but somehow I do. When I wake it takes me a moment to get my bearings; something that hasn't happened since basic.

The sounds of people moving around outside the tent helps orient me and I remember that I'm on a training exercise with my team.

Breakfast is the left over rabbit with some bread that Astra remembered she had in her pack. It's not the best, or even the healthiest of breakfasts, but it is all we currently have.

Breakfast cleaned up and I realize this would be the perfect time to work on our tracking skills. "Who here is confident in their tracking ability?" I ask despite knowing that Blackthorne is an excellent tracker.

The three of them look at each other and then Blackthorne slowly raises his hand. "I am, major."

I nod my head. "Good. Feel like you could teach us a thing or two?"

"I can but try."

"Do or do not, there is no try," Astra mutters under her breath and it's all I can do to not profess my love for her right here and now. Any woman who can quote Yoda is to be admired.

Ames gives a low whistle. "Damn. Gotta love a woman who can quote Master Yoda."

Astra has an excellent poker face. She just blinks at Ames and shrugs. "Only girl in a family of boys. You do what's necessary to survive."

"Okay. So, Blackthorne,-" I turn back to him. "-you'll give us some pointers and then test us. Alright?"

He nods. "Yeah, okay."

For the next several hours he shows us how to tell the passage of different animals based on how and where a twig was broken on a tree or bush. He even shows us the tracks of a bear, a wolf and a small herd of deer.

"And now, you hide and we'll find you," I say. "And Corporal, don't make it as easy as I did yesterday, okay?"

The tiny grin on Blackthorne's face tells me that it wasn't entirely my lack of skill in hiding that had them finding me so easily yesterday. "Yes, Sir."

Astra, Ames and I turn our backs and close our eyes so that Blackthorne can leave the clearing. After we've counted out a full minute we begin searching for signs of where he might be hiding.

After about twenty minutes of following what we hope is his trail, we come to a spot with evidence of him having gone in two directions. 

"So which way did he actually go?" Astra asks, chewing on her thumb nail and looking back and forth between the two trails.

"Well,-" I say with a sigh. "-we could either go 'eenie, meanie, minie, moe' or split up."

Ames eyes both trails, then turns to face me. "We'll split up."

"Alright. Wanna flip a coin to see who Astra goes with?" I do my best to ignore the fake outraged gasp she gives.

"Nah." Ames grins. "You can have her. I think she likes you better."

"Alrighty, then. Radio if you find him."

"Will do." With a half salute, Ames takes the trail to the left.

"After you, Doctor." I hold one arm out in the direction of the other trail.

"Flip a coin? Really, Major? I am so horribly insulted."

"Oh, yeah. I can see just how insulted you are," I say, referring to how the corners of her lips keep twitching.

She gives up all pretense and allows a smile to break free and it's like the sun breaking through the clouds. My breath catches in my throat at how the smile makes her even more beautiful.

I find myself wanting to grab her and find out what she tastes like and so it takes everything I have to just point over her shoulder. "That way."

The smile falls off her face and she purses her lips before spinning on her heel and marching through the bush before slowing down enough to examine the signs of someone or something passing. "It does appear that either a man Bear's size or a large animal came through here."

"Excellent. Now let's see if we can catch him before Ames."

She grins at me over her shoulder. "We should make a bet."

I grin back and tap my radio. "Ames?"

_"Sir?"_

"Doctor Owen thinks we should wager on finding Blackthorne."

_"What did the good Doctor have in mind?"_

I raise my eyebrows at her. "This was your idea."

She tilts her head in thought, then her face brightens and she taps her radio. "Loser, or losers, has to tear down the tents tomorrow."

"Oooh, good choice."

_"You got it. Ames out."_

With an evil looking grin, she spins on her heel and resumes looking for signs of Blackthorne.

Forty minutes later we come to a clearing and Astra makes her way over to a boulder and plops down on it. "We suck."

I swallow a chuckle. "Or he's just really good at hiding."

"Have you always been this annoyingly optimistic or is this a new thing you're trying?"

"My, my. A bit touchy today, are we?"

"Yeah, bite me."

This time I laugh out loud. "It's just a game, Owen."

She glares at me. "Know why I chose tearing down the tents?" I can guess. "Because it's not something I want to do." Thought so.

"Well, look at it this way," I say, joining her on the boulder. "Ames hasn't found him either."

"Or they're making out again and that's why he hasn't called."

"Astra!" I can't keep the censure from my voice. "You can't say things like that to me."

"What?" She frowns at me. "It's not like you haven't noticed."

"Don't ask, don't tell," I say through gritted teeth.

She rolls her eyes. "Fine." 

We fall silent for several minutes, then she gives a sigh like she's finally decided on something. "Why do you hate me?" Her voice is so small it makes me feel like a giant jerk.

I can't have this conversation while sitting next to her so I get up and pace a bit away. "I don't hate you."

"You sure do act like you do."

"Well, I don't."

"Why not? Jack's forcing me on you. Don't bother denying it."

"Be that as it may, I don't hate you."

"But you don't like me, do you?"

"I like you just fine, Doc. It's just-" I have no idea how to finish that sentence without outing myself to her.

"Just, what, Major?" She stands up and approaches where I'm glued to the ground, my feet absolutely refusing to obey my command to run as far and as fast as I can.

"Just-" She stops directly in front of me. "I can't. _We_ can't."

"Who's to know?" She goes up on her toes and presses her lips to mine.

It takes a couple of seconds but eventually my body overrides my brain and I wrap my arms around her slender frame, pulling her to me and deepening the kiss with a moan of pure need. She wraps her arms around my shoulders and buries her fingers in my hair.

With one hand tangled in the hair at the back of her head to hold her still, I slide the other down her back to grip her ass and lift her just that much higher. She whimpers and wraps one leg around my hip which has the excellent benefit of having her all but humping my erection through my pants.

Just as I start to lift her higher in order to get her other leg wrapped around me, my radio squawks. _"Found him!"_

Unlike in the movies and romance novels, we don't jump apart at the interruption. No, we slowly break the kiss and stand there wrapped in each other's arms for a very long moment. Then I slowly let her down, holding on until I'm sure she's steady on her feet.

I can't help but run one thumb along her kiss swollen lower lip. "That can never happen again."

"What if I want it to? What if I want it to go further?"

I shake my head. "Fraternization rules are there for your protection."

She snorts. "Fuck the rules. I know just how much you want me and I want you just as much."

I shake my head again. "No."

"So I'm not worth your career? Is that what you're saying?"

Much as I don't want to hurt her, I lie. "Yes."

She's not quick enough to hide the hurt in her eyes but she does manage to blink back the tears. With a sharp nod she turns. "Fine."

And now I feel like the world's biggest asshole. But it can't be helped. I have to keep my distance in order to protect her.

After clearing my throat of my own tears, I tap my radio. "Excellent job, Captain. Where are you?"

_"About three KLICKS from due east from where we split up."_

"On our way." I walk over to where she's standing with her back to me. "As-Doctor?"

"What?" 

"Let's go." With a huff she turns and exits the clearing where we entered it.

Oh, yeah. This is gonna be fun. I shake my head. I knew better than to return that fucking kiss, but damnit all, I can only resist so much and for so long before I break. Of course, I thought it would take longer and more than just the feel of her breasts crushed against my chest.

Astra is quiet all the way to where we find Ames sitting under a tree. "So where is he?" she demands.

He just points up and that's when I notice a booted foot dangling from the lowest branch. "Trapped like a rat."

"Not sure I like that analogy, Captain." The boot disappears only to be replaced by the upside down head and shoulders of Blackthorne. "I'd like to come down now, Major. I've needed to piss for a while now."

"Nobody's stopping you from coming down, Corporal." There's a note of something I can't quite identify in Ames' voice.

"Actually you are. You're sitting exactly where I need to land when I jump down."

Astra looks back at me and I know we're thinking something similar. Something happened between them and Ames isn't happy about it. If what Astra told me is true, and my own observations support it is, Ames and Blackthorne had a similar discussion to the one Astra and I just had, only with Ames as Astra and Blackthorne as me.

"Captain, please get up so the Corporal can come down."

"Yes, Sir." Ames slowly gets to his feet, making a big production of wiping the dirt and debris from his pants before sauntering a few feet away from the base of the tree. As soon as he is far enough away, Blackthorne jumps down and does indeed land exactly where Ames had been sitting, before sprinting for the woods.

"I'm going to pretend you weren't just acting like a petulant five year-old, Captain."

"Thank you, Major."

"Oh, don't thank me yet, Captain. For that little show of immaturity, you get to tear down the tents tomorrow."

His jaw hits the ground. "But, the bet! I won!"

I shrug, fighting to keep the evil grin off my face. "But I'm the CO. What I say goes."

He grits his teeth and growls low in the back of his throat. "Very good. Sir." And now we're back to him respectfully disrespecting me.

"Everyone back to camp!" Turning, I lead the way. 

The rest of the weekend goes exactly as I expect it to after the previous afternoon's confrontations. Astra barely speaks to me, unless necessary and then only the bare minimum. And Ames does the same with Blackthorne. It makes me truly wish things were different; that the four of us could have what we truly want: to be with the person we have feelings for.

Now that I know what kissing Astra is like I know I won't be able to hide my growing affection for her from my mother and so I avoid going to her house. I know that she sees right through my excuse of being too busy training my team but for some reason she allows me to get away with it. The fact that I'm calling her more often may have something to do with it, though.

Then, finally, the day I've been dreading, and secretly anticipating, arrives.

"Major?" A knock on the open door of my office has me raising my head from where I'm reading over my team's latest test results.

I jump to my feet when I see O'Neill standing there. "Sir?"

"Sit, sit." He waves me back into my chair while stepping into my office and closing the door before taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk.

"It's time, isn't it, Sir?"

He smirks. "Never let it be said that you aren't observant, Major." I just blink at him. "You have a briefing at 1400 and step through the gate at 1600."

I nod. "Very good, Sir." I chew my lower lip, trying to decide whether or not to ask.

"His plane doesn't land until 1700 and he won't even step foot in the mountain until 0800 tomorrow."

"And if his plane's early? They do sometimes catch a tailwind, Sir."

He points at his chest. "Pilot, remember?" I just smile. "I've given everyone orders that he's not allowed down here until tomorrow morning with his escort. If he somehow manages to get here to the mountain tonight, he will be denied entrance."

"Is that entrance to the parking lot or entrance to SGC?"

"Both. He won't have a driver if he shows up before 1630, just in case there is a tailwind that's the earliest I figure they'd be, so how would he explain to a cabbie why he wants to come to NORAD?"

"You have a point."

"Yeah, I got ten of 'em." He chuckles at his own joke.

I just barely refrain from rolling my eyes. "Is there anything else, Sir?"

"Nope. Just wanted to give you a head's up."

"I appreciate it, Sir."

We both stand and shake hands. "Good luck, Major."

"Thank you, Sir."

I locate my team and inform them of the briefing and pending gate-out; all three of them seem relieved that it's finally time. I can tell that Blackthorne and Ames want to ask when he'll be arriving but since they're not supposed to know they keep their questions to themselves.

Until they corner me in the locker room, that is.

"So he's here." Ames is the first to speak.

"Not yet." I sit on the bench and rub my face with my hands. "He arrives after we gate out and isn't due to report until tomorrow."

"I think we should let it slip around some of the men, let him see what it's like to be in fear of his safety." I never knew Blackthorne had this vindictive streak.

"No. Much as we disagree with his continued freedom, he has Hayes' protection. I meant it when I said he's off limits."

They share a look. "Wish I could spar with him. Can't get in trouble for beating him up in the name of training. Right, Sir?" Ames looks all innocent.

I stand and get in their faces. "If any harm comes to him without a damn good reason, you two are my first suspects. Understood?"

They both nod. "Yes, Sir," they say in unison.

"Good. Now go get your affairs in order. And don't even think of being even a second late to this briefing."

They both scamper from the room. I flop back down on the bench, dropping my head into my hands. I really wish I could give this bastard a piece of what he put Astra through but he's not worth all the trouble it would bring me.

At 1400 on the nose, Blackthorne and Ames enter the briefing room and take seats at the table with Astra between them. Jackson and Carter take turns telling us about the planet we're going to and from the sound of it, this will be an extremely easy and boring mission. The planet has been visited numerous times by different teams and that's why it's used as a first off-world mission for new teams.

The meeting breaks up at 1500 which leaves us an hour for a pre-gate check-up by the medical staff and any last minute things that need to be done. Such as a quick call to my mother.

 _"This is it, isn't it?"_ she says by way of greeting.

"Yeah." My first time off-world since telling her the truth about my job. "We'll be gone about two months." She can't quite stifle the sob. "Mom, please. It's an easy one. All the new teams go on this mission their first time out."

_"Doesn't make it any easier, Evan."_

I sigh. "I know, Mom. Just know that I have a great team behind me and that I'll be home in two months. SOP says we get a full forty-eight hours downtime after a mission of this length. I'll come home for the weekend. How's that?"

 _"Okay."_ She takes a shaky breath. _"I love you so much."_

"I know, Mom. I love you, too."

We end the call with her promising to tell the rest of the family and that they'll be thinking about me. Of course they will. They always are.

When the time comes, Blackthorne handles his first trip through the gate better than most. With only a slight hesitation he follows Ames like they've been going through the gate together for years.


	4. Chapter 4

It's been just over a month since we stepped through the gate when Astra approaches where I'm monitoring the perimeter. "Major Lorne?"

"Doctor Owen?" The tension between us has only grown in the weeks we've been off-world until it's a near tangible thing; thick enough to cut with a dull knife.

"I want to go home."

I turn to face her; sure I couldn't have heard her correctly. "You knew what you were signing up for, Doctor. This is a two month mission. We've only been here just over a month."

"I don't care. I want indoor plumbing, hot and cold running water. I want to wash my body, my clothes, _my hair_. And most importantly, I'm fucking tired of sleeping on the ground."

"Three more weeks, Princess." I can't believe we're here again. "If you want, I'll keep watch while you bathe in the lake. I hear sand can be used to scrub out the worst of the oils from your hair."

"I can't anymore." I wonder if she knows she's whining.

"Seriously? We're going through this again?" I step in close and lower my voice. "We had a deal. You going back on that?"

She lowers her head to stare at the ground. "No. But I am getting tired of this."

"We all are. Not even having been stationed overseas can prepare you for being so far removed from the things we take for granted. But it is just three more weeks."

"Evan…" There's something in her voice that hits me right in the gut. "I just _can't_ anymore."

"I get it, As." I step closer and tilt her chin up with my thumb. "I wish I could send you back but I can't. Only thing I can do is offer to watch over you while you bathe in the lake."

Her lower lip begins to tremble. "I never thought it'd be this bad."

"Would you have turned down the offer of joining a team if you'd known?"

Her shoulders sag and she sighs. "No. But I would have packed more clean underwear and wet wipes."

I huff out a small laugh. "Of course you would have." I can't resist brushing a kiss to her forehead. "Just a couple more weeks. You're stronger than you think."

She steps back and clears her throat. "You'll keep watch?" I nod. "Good." She turns and begins walking down the path toward the lake. I watch the way her ass moves for several minutes before taking a deep breath and following.

When I get to the lake, I find her shrugging out of her uniform shirt which she drops on the ground next to some boulders before grabbing the hem of her tee shirt and lifting it over her head. My eyes are immediately drawn to a colorful butterfly tattoo on her left breast. It doesn't take much for me to figure out that it hides the evidence of her ex-husband's murder attempt.

"You didn't turn around." Her voice doesn't hold an ounce of accusation.

"Neither did you." I step closer, getting right into her personal space, and reach out with one hand to trace the curve of one wing over the swell of her breast where it camouflages her scar. "I would willingly kill him for you," I say in a small voice tight with anger at what that bastard did to her.

"Who told you?"

Looking deep into her eyes, I lie through my fucking teeth. "No one. But there's only one reason a woman would want to hide a scar in this spot."

Her breath catches in her throat and her breast ends up cupped in my hand since I haven't removed my fingers; I can't help but squeeze the slightest bit. "Ev…" 

"Tell me to stop, Astra," I whisper, my eyes locked on her lips.

"Don't stop." She rises up on her toes and presses her lips to mine.

I shift my hand to get a better grip on her breast and wrap the other around her waist to drag her closer while I tilt my head and deepen the kiss. She wraps her arms around my shoulders and buries her fingers in my hair. One of us moans and it seems to break the spell we're under. Reluctantly I pull back, taking a step back when she tries to follow. Giving her breast one last caress, I place my hands on her shoulders and set her away from me.

"Take your bath, Princess. I'll be right here, keeping watch."

She licks her lips and nods her head before sitting down on the boulder and removing her socks and shoes so she can pull off her pants. Then she wades into the water still wearing her bra and panties. Stopping when the water reaches her waist, she dips below the surface and comes up with two handfuls of sand, which she uses to scrub her hair and her armpits.

When she glances at me over her shoulder, I give a curt nod of my head and then turn to sit on the boulder and face the forest.

The sound of her splashing has images of what she must look like naked running through my head. It's all I can do to sit still on the boulder and ignore the urge to join her in the water or pull her out and have my way with her.

"Major?" The tension is back and thicker than ever.

"Doctor?"

"I forgot to bring something to dry off with and cleaner clothes."

I allow my head to drop forward in annoyance because of course she forgot those things. Tapping my radio I call Blackthorne. "Corporal, please gather any spare shirts from our packs and the cleanest change of clothes from Doctor Owen's."

"On it, Boss."

Boss? The nickname throws me for a moment but then with a chuckle I decide I like it. "And quick step it, Jarhead."

"Sir, yes, Sir!" I can just imagine him clicking his heel and saluting me.

A few minutes later Blackthorne comes barreling out of the forest clutching several articles of clothing. He skids to a stop in front of me, kicking up enough dust to have me coughing. Straining his neck he tries to see around me and the boulder to the lake. "Where is she, Sir?"

"Hiding until you leave." I stand and hold out one hand. "You should be ashamed for trying to see her naked."

He has the good grace to blush and drops his gaze to the ground. "Sorry, Sir."

"It's not me you need to apologize to."

"Sorry, Doctor Owen." He raises his voice.

"Just go, Corporal." I shoo him with the wave of one hand. He turns slowly on his heel and reluctantly walks back to camp. "He's gone," I say, setting the clothes down on the boulder closest to the water before taking a couple of steps away to give her as much privacy as possible.

"You kept your back turned."

"You're too much of a temptation, Princess. If I hadn't turned away we'd be breaking all the rules."

"Maybe I want to break the rules."

I look over my shoulder to see her sitting on the boulder behind me, calmly tying her boots. "Really? I'm supposed to believe you're hot for me when you're all calm and shit?"

"Who says I'm calm?" She sits up and looks at me. "What? Just because I'm putting on my clothes?" She makes a rude noise in the back of her throat and rolls her eyes. "You're about as likely to break the rules with me as Ames and Blackthorne." She shakes her head. "Although they are getting kinda close."

"Again, you can't say those things to me."

"But you know it's true."

I do know that but I have to ignore it because otherwise it would ruin the lives of two very good soldiers. "Doesn't mean you can say that to me."

"Fine. I'll pretend to be blind, just like you." She stands up and wipes her hands on her pants. "And just like we're going to pretend that there's not a damn thing between us. Is that right?"

With a nod, I drop my gaze to the ground. "It's the way it has to be, Astra. My ca-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She waves one hand in the air like she's swatting a fly. "Your career and all that shit."

I cough to hide the chuckle at her use of the swear word. It's like hearing my mother swear because it takes me by complete surprise due to her coming across as so prim and proper.

"I hate you so much," she hisses, walking past me and up the path back to camp.

"Feeling's mutual, Darlin'," I drawl, following like a dog after a bitch in heat.

The camp's nearly in sight when my radio crackles to life and Ames' voice breaks the silence. "Incoming!"

And then we hear it: a Death Glider flying low overhead. A look up confirms it. "Double time it!" I shout, breaking into a full out run while fully expecting her to follow.

Judging by the thrashing sounds from behind me, she does indeed follow me. We crash into the campsite just in time to see two Jaffas Zat Ames and Blackthorne. I have just enough time to think, 'At least they want us alive' before Astra and I are also shot with a Zat.  
= = =  
I'm aware of several things when I wake up: a) we're on a different planet (the gravity's different) b) we're underground (I can smell the damp earth) and c) my head is pillowed on one of Astra's thighs; a thigh I'd love to separate from its twin before settling down between them. That thought has my dick swelling in my pants which in turn has me sitting up with a jerk.

And instantly wishing I hadn't. With a moan, I cradle my head in my hands and will the planet to stop spinning like a tilt-a-whirl.

"Easy," Astra says softly. "You ever been hit by a Zat before?" I nod gently. "Then you know that the killer headache you have right now will pass."

I make some kind of noise in the back of my throat that she more than likely takes as agreement.

Eventually the planet rights itself and I turn to face her. So much for her bath earlier, I think, looking at the smudges of dirt and grime on her face.

"Wha-" I stop to clear my throat and try to get some spit flowing to unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth. "What do you know?"

"Not much. Not sure how long we've been here or how long I've been conscious. I _do_ know who has us."

"Yeah?"

She nods. "Ba'al."

"Fuck me with a stick," I mutter. She snorts a small laugh. "How do you know?"

"Saw a tattoo." Of course she did. "Wonder why they kept us alive."

"We're about to find out," I say under my breath as four Jaffa approach the bars of our cell.

We both stand slowly and I push her behind me, prepared to defend her even if it kills me. All four Jaffa approach us. Two have Zats primed and ready to stun us, one has something hidden in his hand and the fourth one is carrying a pain stick.

"You'll have to go through me to get to her," I say through gritted teeth.

The lead Jaffa, the one with the pain stick, just laughs. "It's not the female we're here for." I fully expect him to shove me to the side even though he said they're not here for Astra. When he reaches for me I try to dart around him but he catches me in the side with the pain stick.

A scream is ripped from my throat and I fall to my knees. The pain hasn't even begun to recede when I feel a prick in the back of my neck. Before I lose all sense of time and space I can hear Astra screaming for them to not hurt me and screaming for me to fight them. I try to tell her it'll be okay but my mouth won't obey.

The room spins drunkenly when I'm bodily lifted and dragged from the cell. Everything takes on a dream like quality and all I'm aware of is something heavy holding me down and unspecific pain. I know I scream repeatedly. So much in fact that my voice breaks and my screams no longer carry any sound.

The next thing I'm fully aware of is coming to with a gasp and a jerk just in time to see the lid of a sarcophagus sliding back. Shit! They fucking killed me!

Two pairs of hands appear and roughly lift me from the sarcophagus and force march me back to the cell where they shove me inside. I land on all fours and Astra is instantly at my side making soothing noises in my ear.

I open my mouth to tell her I'm fine but have to dash for a corner before my stomach empties its contents all over her. I'm not sure how long it's been since I last ate but it's obviously been long enough that I have very little actual food left to expel from my system. And so it's not too long before I'm puking up stomach bile which in turn becomes dry heaves and I'm sure I'm going to see my toenails soon.

Finally my brain accepts my body's signal that there is nothing left for me to get rid of. With a pain filled moan I sag weakly against the rough wall next to where I'm kneeling.

"Evan?" Astra's voice is full of fear and hovering on the edge of panic.

I want to reassure her but my everything hurts and I can barely catch my breath.

"Come on." She tugs on my arm. "Let's get you away from here." I let her pull me to my feet, using the wall to help when I start to fall lest I take her down with me.

Moving one agonizing inch at a time, we make our way to the opposite corner where it looks like she's made her bed - is that a blanket?

"Here. Easy, now." With one hand braced against the wall and the other gripping her shoulder, we manage to get me settled more or less comfortably on the cold stone floor.

"Here,-" She presses a rough wooden cup into my hands. "-drink." Water sloshes over the rim from how hard my hands are shaking so she wraps both of hers over mine and assists me in taking a sip.

After several minutes where I keep expecting the water to make a reappearance, she hands me a small piece of bread. "This should help settle your stomach even more."

I tear off the tiniest of crumbs and swallow it, again waiting to make sure my stomach doesn't reject it. When that stays down, I nibble on the rest of the chunk of bread, pretending it's one of my early attempts at baking bread.

Astra chews her lower lip, her fear and worry etched on her face. "What'd they do to you?"

I shake my head and take another sip of water, pleased that my hand is much steadier. "No clue. I barely remember pain, _lots_ of pain, and then I woke up in a sarcophagus."

Her gasp is loud in the small room and tears drip down her cheeks. "Oh, Evan!" She sobs. "I can't believe they killed you!"

"Or at least injured me enough that I would have died eventually if left untreated."

"Those bastards!" Her anger filled voice pulls a chuckle from me.

Without thinking I reach out with one hand and run a finger along her eyebrow. "I can only hope they don't ever come for you."

Her expression softens and she grabs my wrist when I go to pull my hand back. "Evan…" She scoots closer. "I need to tell you something."

I shake my head. "No, Astra, don't."

Her smile is endearingly bittersweet. "You have to know-"

"No! Astra…" I refuse to let her say those words; words that have been hovering on the tip of my tongue for months and can never be taken back once uttered.

Leaning forward, she brushes my lips with hers. "I love you, Evan Lorne," she whispers, her warm breath fanning over my face.

My eyes close, one tear slips from under each lid and I hear myself say, "I love you, too." And all the while a voice in my head is screaming 'Abort! Abort! Abort!' Until another part of me comes along and strangles it, that is.

"I know this is really poor timing-" she says still in that same soft voice. "-but I need to know before we die."

Know what? I wonder. Luckily she doesn't leave me wondering for long.

Her small hands cup my head while her tongue traces my parted lips and she straddles my thighs. My hands come up and cup her lovely ass of their own volition. She moans into my mouth when I squeeze her cheeks. I give her moan right back when she grinds down against my erection.

This is more than really poor timing, it's piss poor timing. We should be trying to find a way to escape, not making out like teenagers.

I shift us so that we're laying flat with me stretched over her because there are a few things I need to know too; like the sounds she makes while being pleasured and just what it takes for her to come apart at the seams.

Taking her hands in mine, I link our fingers before pressing them against the blanket covered floor above her head. She wraps her legs around my waist and arches her back, silently demanding I do something.

I begin gently rocking my hips against hers, slowly increasing speed and pressure. Tilting my head to the side I seal my mouth tighter over hers, thrusting my tongue in and out in an imitation of what I'd much rather be doing to her. 

She whimpers low in her throat and gives back everything I give her. Breaking the kiss is actually physically painful but we both need to breathe. "Evan…" She arches her back. "Evan, please."

"Please, what, Princess?" I ask despite having a fairly good idea what she wants. I shift both her hands to my left so I can slip my right hand under her shirt. "Let me tell you what I want." Running my fingers lightly up her side I watch as arousal builds in her eyes. "I want to strip you naked and kiss up your body, starting at your feet. I'd then stop at the core of you and give you orgasm after orgasm, until you can't think anymore. Then I'd continue up your body stopping only to suckle your breasts." I lightly brush my fingers over her left nipple, she gasps and I chuckle. "Oh, good. You like having your breasts played with." I cup her breast and squeeze. "And then, _and then_ , I'd enter you so fucking slowly; not stopping until my balls are pressed against your ass. Then I'd press in even more. And finally, I'd pull out and thrust back in, hard and deep." I put actions to words, pulling another gasp from her.

"Is that what you from me, Astra? You want me to fuck you good and hard?" She nods her head jerkily and, planting her feet on the ground, begins to thrust up against me. 

I haven't dry humped a girl since I was in high school. I forgot how good it can be. We rock against each other until finally she throws back her head and whimpers. Knowing she's having what appears to be one hell of an orgasm pulls mine from me and, with a shudder, I come in my pants like a randy teenager.  
= = =  
Several minutes later I'm lying on my back with my head pillowed on my right hand and Astra tucked against my left side. She's playing with the buttons on the front of my shirt and I have a feeling that I'm not going to like whatever it is she's thinking about.

"His name is Dieter Wolfgang." I hold my breath waiting for her to finish her story despite not wanting to hear it. She turns her head and rubs her nose against my shoulder. "As you know my parents are in the military. They expected all of us to follow in their footsteps. When I refused they disowned me."

She releases a shaky breath. "I applied for all kinds of grants and fellowships and scholarships and ended up at Oxford."

When she doesn't continue right away I have to fight the urge to prompt her to finish it, knowing instinctively that if I do it'll just make her clam up.

"I was alone in a foreign country and Dieter was - _is_ \- very charming. He swept me off my feet. We had a whirlwind romance and were married within six months of meeting. The first year was wonderful but then he saw me talking with my lab partner and flipped out.

"I know I should have left after that first slap but he was so apologetic and the verbal and emotional abuse had been doing its job and I thought I deserved it." She falls silent again and I force myself to keep my left arm and hand relaxed while I clench my right hand in fury at what that son of a bitch did to her.

"I confided in Darcy after nearly two years and he somehow managed to get transferred to England to be near me. It took way too long for him to convince me to leave. When I finally got up the courage to do so, Dieter attacked me.

"I managed to get away and wound up in the kitchen where I grabbed one of the knives. He got it away from me and…" Her voice breaks and I can hear the effort it's taking for her to hold back tears. "I think you know what happened next."

"Tell me he's rotting in some dark hole somewhere," I demand despite knowing exactly where he is.

Her chuckle has absolutely no humor to it. "I wish. He has powerful friends. Managed to get off on a technicality."

"Surely you have some kind of protection from him."

"Oh, yeah. A restraining order. But I think we both know that a simple piece of paper won't keep him from getting to me if that's what he truly wants."

"Where is he now?" I need to know if she has any inkling as to where he is right now.

"No clue."

"How are you expected to protect yourself from him if you don't know where he is?"

"I have no idea. All I know is it hasn't been an issue."

"He hasn't ever tried to contact you?"

"Shortly after I was released from hospital I was recruited into the program. He no longer has any access to my whereabouts."

Oh, how wrong she is and that pisses me off to no end. "So you don't think he'll ever get recruited into the program?"

"He can't."

"You sound positive about that."

"Of course I am. My contract prohibits it due to the restraining order."

"Like you said earlier: a piece of paper can be got around."

She sits up to frown down at me. "Do you know something?"

I shake my head. "Not at all. Just don't think your contract or restraining order will keep SGC, or even Hayes, from recruiting him if he has a skill they think is needed."

"I could sue for failing to provide me with a safe work environment."

"Good luck with that what with the program being top secret and all."

"You _do_ know something!" God how I hate my big mouth for putting the fear in her eyes.

"No, Astra. Trust me. I don't know a damn thing." And the lies just keep piling up.

"They wouldn't let him join the program would they?" Her lower lip begins to tremble. As if I'd know, given I don't know the son of a bitch.

"Given how protective O'Neill is of you? I doubt it. Besides, it's not like he's military or a scientist, right?"

She looks away. "He's an American. He was stationed at the embassy in London. He was - is - a Captain in the Marines."

Huh. Same rank of Ames. And with him being older he most definitely ended up removed from the promotion grid. "I doubt he's still a Captain," I say even though I know he most likely is.

"He was removed from the promotion grid for several years."

"How many years?"

She shrugs. "Not really sure but I do know it hasn't been long enough. All this happened almost ten years ago. I was out of it for a long while but I seem to recall someone saying he'd be lucky to make Major before his twenty."

"Do you know how long he has until he reaches his twenty?"

Another shrug. "He may be within five years. I don't really care. Why are you asking all these questions?"

"Just curious."

"Uh-huh." She straddles my hips, leaning down so that her hair makes a curtain around our faces. "I don't want to talk about that any longer."

"Fine by me." I pull her down so I can lick my way back into her mouth.  
= =   
We quickly slip into a routine: sleep, eat, the Jaffa take me to be tortured before returning me to the cell where I promptly puke up my guts, eat, make-out some and then sleep again. I try to avoid the temptation for a few cycles but it's like once I let down my guard that first time, the walls just came crumbling down around me.

I can't help but feel like I'm taking advantage of her and the situation but she insists I'm not each time I voice my objections. And she proves it the few times I've managed to keep my distance by straddling my lap and attacking my mouth.

I have no clue how long, exactly, we've been 'guests' of Ba'al when she tells me in an embarrassed whisper, her cheeks bright pink, that she's started her period. It's the first thing that allows us to somewhat track time.

All women in the Stargate Program who go off world and are capable of conceiving are on the Depo-Provera shot which stops their periods. They're supposed to get the shot every three months and their periods return within three or four weeks of missing a dose.

Astra got a shot the day we stepped through the gate during her pre-mission check-up and was scheduled to receive another the day we returned, during her post-mission check-up. Because she's bleeding I'm able to figure approximately how long we've been here and can track how long before help arrives.

Knowing that not all women are as open about their menstrual needs as my mother and sisters I do my best to lessen her embarrassment by pretending it's an everyday occurrence that she tells me she needs something to use as a feminine hygiene product. Without a word, I pull my t-shirt off over my head and proceed to tear it into strips.

She takes the pieces of cloth without looking at me and steps over to the corner we've set aside as the bathroom to take care of her needs. In an effort to help her get over her embarrassment, I turn my back and pretend she's just taking care of normal everyday things.

After that it's easy to mark 'days' and so it's nearly three weeks later that the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic gunfire wakes us. We both breathe a sigh of relief at knowing we're about to be rescued, not that we haven't enjoyed our forced 'vacation'; just that it's time for us to go home and get a little space from each other. 

After what feels like hours, and probably is, a familiar figure approaches the bars of our cell. "Hello, there. My name's Jack O'Neill, two ell's-" He holds up three fingers. "-and I'll be your rescuer tonight."

Ames and Blackthorne appear behind him and give me wan smiles, both looking a hell of a lot worse for wear. O'Neill doesn't even glance at them over his shoulder. "And these fine gentlemen are my assistants. I found them napping just down the hall there." He flicks his head to his left.

The instant the doors are open, Astra dashes out and into O'Neill's arms. "Jack." Her sob is muffled against his chest.

"I got you," he murmurs, stroking her hair. "Although, I'm sure Lorne here was a more than adequate bodyguard. Weren't you, Major?"

I nod my head but Astra shakes hers and I wonder if everything we've shared over the past six or so weeks was a lie. And then I notice that her whole body is shaking with the force of her sobs. Seeing her seek comfort in another man's arms, even a man she views as a father, has a brief light of jealousy flaring to life before I manage to kill it. She's not mine to be jealous of. Even if she did say she loves me.

"Can you walk?" O'Neill asks Astra. She nods. "Okay. I'm gonna need you to use someone else as your Teddy Bear so I can get us out of here." He starts to pass her to me but she grabs Blackthorne instead.

We meet each other's eyes over her head and he shrugs, just as confused by her behavior as I am.

"Think you can hold a gun, Major?" I lift an eyebrow at O'Neill causing him to chuckle. "Of course you can. Here." He hands me the Berretta strapped to his right thigh. "I'll want it back. It's my favorite gun."

I never know when he's being serious or not so I just nod. "Yes, Sir."

"I'll take point. Ames, you and Blackthorne guard Astra in the middle while Lorne protects our six."

"Yes, Sir," the three of us say in unison before falling into order and following O'Neill out of Ba'al's compound. We manage to make it to the gate where we meet up with Carter, Jackson and Teal'c without encountering any more Jaffa.

As soon as Astra spies Cater, she runs into her arms with a small cry. Carter catches her and clutches her to her chest.

"What did you do to her, Major?" Carter glares at me over Astra's shaking shoulder.

"Not a goddamn fucking thing, Colonel." Why would she think I had harmed Astra?

"Did Ba'al…?" I shake my head. "Then why is she soaking the front of my flak jacket with her tears?"

"I don't know." It's hard to keep my irritation in check. "Maybe because she's been held captive for - how long have we been gone?" I turn to O'Neill and ask.

"Six weeks; give or take."

With a curt nod, I turn back to Carter. "Maybe because she's been held captive for six weeks and has seen the aftermath of _me_ being tortured _daily_ , I might add, on top of it."

O'Neill gives a low whistle. "Daily?"

"Give or take." I sigh tiredly. "Hard to track time without a watch, a clock or any windows."

"You look great for someone who was tortured on a regular basis." Carter looks like she doesn't believe me.

"Because they always put me in a sarcophagus after each session."

"Fuck." Ames' voice from my left reminds me that all three members of my team were held captive.

"What about the two of you?" I turn to face them.

They both shake their heads. "They left us alone."

"Guess you were the belle of the Ba'al." O'Neill snickers at his own joke.

"Jack!" Jackson scolds but O'Neill just brushes his objection aside.

"That wasn't very nice, Jack." Astra turns to frown at O'Neill.

"But it's funny!" O'Neill looks at all of us in turn. "C'mon! Belle of the _Ba'al_. Get it?"

"Yes, Sir. We get it," Ames replies drily.

Blackthorne shakes his head. "May we go home, now, Sir?"

O'Neill sighs. "Fine. Daniel, dial us home."

With one last glare in O'Neill's direction, Jackson turns to the DHD and begins punching in Earth's address. We all watch as the event horizon blossoms out before settling into the ocean like rippling pool. Carter pulls out her garage door opener and sends her IDC and we all wait for the all-clear from SGC before filing through the gate.

The moment we step foot back on Earth, my team and I are whisked off to the infirmary for our post-mission check-ups. Once the doctors find out that I spent time in a sarcophagus on a near daily basis they all have to give me a once-over and subject me to a battery of tests before allowing me to go to my debriefing with O'Neill.

All four of us are given a clean bill of health and mandatory appointments with the base shrink over the next several weeks. It says a lot about my team's mental state that none of them even think of arguing about the ordered sessions.

Finally after hours of grueling questioning, I get back to my on base quarters, totally intent on falling face first on the bed and sleeping for at least a day. But I have to put that plan on hold due to the presence of my mother sitting on the side of my bed.

She stands when she sees me, tears pouring down her face. And I'm instantly five years-old ago, seeking comfort in my mother's arms after falling from the tree and skinning my knee. Stepping into her arms, I allow her to fold me into her embrace and sit us down on the bed.

She rubs soothing circles on my upper back and rocks me gently while I cry out the stress of the past six weeks on her very capable shoulders.

Eventually I cry myself out and am too exhausted to move. "Ev, your team…?" She swallows hard.

I shake my head. "We're all fine." I can't tell her the truth; it would destroy her.

Her relieved sigh ruffles my hair. "Good. I was so scared when Jack showed up at my door to tell me you'd been captured." And this is why I've never told her about my job. If she knew that this was far from the first time I've been captured, well, let's just say she'd insist I resign.

She presses a kiss to the top of my head. "Are you cleared to leave the mountain?"

"Yeah. Why?" My eyes are refusing to stay open.

"I've spent the past six weeks in this room, waiting for you to be rescued. I'd like to sleep in my own bed tonight, if you don't mind."

"Not at all." My head lolls forward on her shoulder and only her arms around my shoulders keeps me from face planting in her lap or on the floor.

"C'mon, Evan. Up ya go." She stands and hauls me to my feet with a grunt. "You can sleep in the car."

"Yeah, okay." I rub at my face with one hand while steadying myself with the other on her shoulder.

We shuffle out of the room and turn toward the elevator. Being lead by my mother I give up the fight to keep my eyes open and trust her to get us where we need to go.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mom's voice is heavy with worry.

"Yeah. Just need to sleep." A huge jaw cracking yawn has me stumbling a little but Mom is right there, keeping me on my feet.

"Evan?" Astra's voice has me blinking my eyes open. This is the first she's spoken to me since we were rescued.

"Astra." God she looks good. Even with bags under her eyes. I can feel myself start to respond to her nearness so I clear my throat and make the introductions. "Mom, this is Astra. Astra, this is my mom."

Astra smiles and holds out one hand. "Hello. Evan's mentioned you a time or two."

"All lies, I'm sure." Mom chuckles and shakes Astra's hand. "He's mentioned you, too." Mom turns to me and I know I'm going to wish we hadn't run into Astra on our way out. "Your drawings don't do her justice, Ev. She's gorgeous."

"Mom!" I know she thinks the rule keeping Astra and me apart is stupid - hell, _I_ think so too - but I still can't believe she said that.

Astra bites her lip. "You've drawn me?"

Seeing no help for it, I jump in with both feet. "Yeah. I like your face." I could punch myself in the mouth when she chokes on a laugh. I have no filter when I'm exhausted.

"You like my face?" Astra is even more beautiful with her face and eyes alight with mirth. "Don't think I've ever heard that one before."

"I like drawing faces. Yours is extremely symmetrical."

"Thank you, Major."

"I must say, Doctor Owen-" Mom begins only to be interrupted by Astra's quiet, "Astra, please." Mom concedes with a nod. "As I was saying, you don't look any worse for wear after your harrowing experience."

"Your son helped. He has a calming effect on people."

"Not his sisters!" They share a laugh. "You have someone to take care of you while you're recovering?"

"Yes, ma'am. My brother. He's just clearing the leave time with Jack."

"That's good. I'm taking him home so I can nag him back to health."

"Not that I'm sick or injured, _Mother_."

She just waves one hand. "Whatever." We start to shuffle past Astra. "Oh, Astra, I think we should get the whole team together at my house in a few weeks. What do you think?"

"I think it's a good idea, Mrs. Lorne."

"Oh, please call me Gayle. Evan will call in a couple weeks to set something up. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Astra gives my mom one last smile before stepping around us and continuing on her way.

I can't help but turn to watch her walk away.

"You are so obvious, Evan," Mom says with a knowing chuckle.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

"Pretend all you like," she responds just as we step into the elevator.

I punch the button that will take us to the surface. "We've had this conversation before, Mom."

"Stupid rule," she mutters, watching the numbers above the door.

"It's there for her protection." She gives me a pointed look. "I'm not discussing this with you anymore, Mom. Regardless of my feelings for her, nothing is going to happen."

"You mean other than what's already happened?"

"Mom! Shut it." She gives me The Look and I mouth 'cameras', opening my eyes really wide hoping she gets my meaning. When she zips her lips closed, I know that she did indeed catch my meaning.

She stays quiet until we're in the car and a couple miles away from the mountain. I'm on the verge of sleep when her quietly spoken, "She really is very lovely, Evan. I can see why you love her." has me wide awake.

"I never said I love her, Mom." I try to get her off the scent because I know she won't leave it alone if she has confirmation.

Her snort tells me I'm not even slightly successful. "I have eyes, Evan Michael. It's obvious to anyone who knows you that something happened on that planet." I turn my head and stare at her profile, silently begging God to not let her ask because I have never been able to lie to her when asked a direct question. "So,-" She turns to glance at me. "-did the two of you have sex?"

"No. We were in a dank cell with an extremely thin blanket between us and the ground. What kind of man do you think I am? You raised me better than that."

A small smile lifts the corner of her mouth. "I know but I just had to ask." Another quick glance in my direction. "So what did happen?"

I close my eyes and turn my head away from her. "We made out like teenagers. I had forgotten just how incredible it can be."

"So let me get this straight: while you were being held captive by an evil alien you decided to make out with Astra? With the other two members of your team in the same cell?"

"Blackthorne and Ames were in a different cell."

"Oh, that makes it _so_ much better." The sarcasm is just dripping off each word.

"Mom."

"Don't you 'Mom' me, Evan Michael Lorne." She takes and releases a deep breath. "I may think you should be with her but… I have no words to explain how disappointed I am."

I take my own deep breath. "She thought we were going to die. She told me she loves me then she kissed me. No straight man would be able to not kiss her back." I shift in my seat, knowing I have to tell her all of it but not wanting to. "I let it go too far. I've been without for a long time and I just couldn't resist."

When we stop at a red light she turns to stare at me. "How long have you been without?"

"I haven't been on a date in well over a year; since before I got tapped to be Edwards' 2IC."

She blinks at me for a long moment then puts the car in motion when the light turns green. "I see. I had no idea."

"I know. I just haven't had the time. While working under Edwards I was hardly on the planet and there was very little lag time between that gig and this one." I shrug. "Can you really fault me for giving into temptation?"

She shakes her head. "No, I can't." She reaches over with one hand and squeezes my knee. "I love you, Evan. And I just want to see you happy."

I put my hand on top of hers. "I know, Mom. I am happy. Oh, not as happy as I'd be if Astra and I could truly be together but happy nonetheless."

She nods her head sharply. "Good." She pats my knee then puts her hand back on the wheel as she steers the car onto the freeway. "Now shut your eyes and get some sleep."

"Yes, ma'am." With a tender smile for my mother, I settle deeper into the seat, close my eyes and let sleep pull me under.  
= = =  
Three weeks later I'm helping Mom clean the house in preparation of my team coming for the weekend, not that the house needs all that much cleaning. I've just pulled the last dish from the dish washer when I hear the sound of car tires crunching the gravel of the back driveway.

"Mom, they're here!" I call out, wiping my hands on a towel and making my way out onto the back porch.

My parents, sisters and brothers-in-law come filing out of the back door just as my team reaches the steps leading up to the porch. "Hey there, Boss!" Blackthorne greets, a huge grin splitting his face.

"Glad to see you found the place okay," Mom says, ever the mother hen.

"The directions were super easy." Ames laughs and steps back to let Astra and Blackthorne go in front of him.

Once everyone's on the porch I make the introductions and my parents insist they get called Gayle and Jeb. It's all a bit confusing with so many people all talking at once but Dad manages to get everyone quiet with a shrill whistle. 

"Thank you, Honey." Mom pats Dad's arm. "Astra, you'll be staying in Evan's room." My sisters start making kissing noises. "While Evan, Bear and Johan will be sleeping on pallets in Jeb's study."

"Aw, poor Evie." Stacy puts her chin on my shoulder. "Can't sleep with his girlfriend."

I shrug her off. "She's not my girlfriend. Remember what Mom said." I turn and silently beg her to not embarrass me in front of my team.

She, of course, pretends to not catch the meaning of my look. "Come along, Astra. Have I got some stories for you!"

"We all do!" Amanda and Rosemarie follow them, snickering the whole time.

"This was a huge mistake, Mom. You know they're going to tell her every embarrassing thing from my childhood."

"It'll be fine, Ev." Dad thumps me on the back. "Why don't you show the boys where the three of you'll be sleeping?" With a shove he gets me moving back into the house.

I give Blackthorne and Ames a brief tour of the house, mostly just showing them where the bathroom is, and then get pulled into the kitchen to assist with dinner; Mom has decided she wants my homemade rolls. Unfortunately this keeps me from seeing Astra until we sit down to eat.

Somehow I end up directly across the table from her and have to constantly remind myself that we're not alone so I can't let my feelings show on my face. Oh, I know I'm not fooling anyone, but I can at least leave them wondering if I truly do have feelings for Astra beyond the attraction of a man for a good looking woman.

Dinner is its usual boisterous affair, only this time it doesn't end in a food fight. For every embarrassing story my sisters tell about me, I tell two about them. And since they have more embarrassing stories, several that their husbands haven't yet heard, they're soon calling defeat and trying to outdo each other in telling good stories about me.

Once everyone's finished eating, we all start to clear our places. "Leave them," Mom tells my team. "You're our guests. Please, go relax. I'll bring out coffee and dessert in a minute."

All three of them look to me. I give a small nod and they file from the kitchen. My sisters and brothers-in-law help clear the table and start washing up. "Ya'll six go too. And take the coffee and pie." Mom shoos them out.

"Mom-" I start to question her.

"We can't talk with them in here."

"Haven't we talked enough?"

"No. I want to know how you two met."

"God, Mom!" With a deep sigh, I tell her everything.  
= = =  
After helping Mom wash up from supper, I go looking for Astra. I find her sitting on the old porch swing.

"Hey," I say softly, sitting down next to her and putting the swing in motion with the push of one foot against the wood floor of the porch.

"Hey," she responds just as softly with a small smile, placing her head on my shoulder.

I tip my head to rest my cheek on her hair. "I did warn you about my family."

She slips one hand into mine, twining our fingers together. "They're fine. And _so_ not the reason I'm out here."

"Yeah?" I question, bouncing my shoulder a little, pulling a giggle from her along with a half-hearted "Stop it!"

With a sigh, she turns her head to rub her nose against my shoulder. "Your family's great. Really. It…" She takes a deep breath. "It was just getting a little close in there."

I know exactly what she means. Ever since being rescued from Ba'al last month, I've had difficulty being in a crowded room.

Turning my head, I bury a kiss in her hair. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget you're not a soldier and therefore don't know how to grin and bear it in situations like this."

"It's alright, Ev. Truly. If your sisters hadn't tried to get me to look at baby stuff with them, I'd probably still be inside."

I told my sisters to not corner Astra, but apparently Stacy's pregnancy has caused her to have selective hearing. It's not like this is her first pregnancy, either. Jared is almost two. "Shall I go yell at them?" I offer in my best hero voice.

She laughs. "Oh, Evan." She snuggles in closer. "It's fine, really. They just assumed that I'm as into all that stuff as they are since I'm female."

"But I told them to not corner you like that. That we had been trapped for several weeks in a small space."

She sits up quickly, almost clocking me on the chin. "You what!?"

I roll my eyes and slip my arm around her shoulders, trying to urge her into laying her head on my shoulder again. "I couldn't very well tell them the truth, now could I?" Although I could since they have been given the clearance and _do_ know what I do. But Astra doesn’t know that, well she doesn't know that my whole family knows. She thinks it's just my mother.

With deep sigh, she gives in and returns to her former position. "I suppose so," she grumbles under her breath.

Placing two fingers under her chin, I tilt her face until I can capture her mouth with mine. As always happens, she responds within a second of my lips touching hers, opening her mouth so our tongues can tangle around and against each other. After just a few minutes, it becomes obvious that we need to move things somewhere else, or run the risk of getting caught by my mother or any of the other people staying here this weekend.

Pulling back reluctantly, I press a kiss to her forehead. "Why don't we take this somewhere more private?"

She just hums her answer. For the past five months we've been running toward this. Now that the time is here, I find I want to go slow; take my time, make it last.

Standing, I pull her to her feet behind me and lead her to the tree behind the house. I quickly climb the boards nailed to the trunk, then assist her up and into the tree house Dad and I built when I was ten.

Closing the trap door, I twist the lock before pulling her back into my arms, both of us kneeling since the tree house wasn't built for adults. 

Running my hands down her back, fist them in the fabric of her shirt and lift it enough to slip my hands under it, pressing them flat against the small of her back. I'm always surprised at how warm her skin is. Trailing my fingers around her waist, I slowly trace the curves of her torso, lifting her shirt as I go. When I reach her armpits, she helps me finish pulling her shirt off over her head, breaking our kiss for the split second it takes to do so.

Tossing her shirt over my shoulder, I wrap my hands around her waist, trying to remember that I can't leave any bruises.

When my lungs demand I breathe, I kiss my way down her neck to her shoulder. Using my teeth, I move the straps of her bra out of my way so I can lick and suck my way across her collarbone. When I get to her left breast, I encounter the scar left by her ex-husband when he attacked her that last time. I trace the thin white line with the tip of my tongue, which is something I've wanted to do since I first saw the damn thing when I watched over her while she bathed a couple of months ago.

I fight to keep the rage at the bastard who dared hurt her at bay. It has no place here. Right now there's only room for love. Hate would just cheapen what we're about to do.

I'm brought back to the moment by the feel of her hands at my waist under my shirt. She removes it just as slowly as I removed hers. I make a small noise of protest in the back of my throat when her pulling my shirt over my head interrupts my exploration of the gentle swell of her breasts, causing her to chuckle evilly. 

"You're a cruel, cruel woman, Doctor Owen," I growl softly, lifting my head just enough to nip at her chin.

"But you wouldn't have me any other way, would you?"

"Damn straight."

Pressing her slowly back, I help her lie down in the small space before kissing my way down her body, stopping to suckle first her left, then her right nipple as well as nibbling here and there and dipping my tongue into her belly button.

When I reach the waist band of her jeans, I run my tongue under it, just skimming the top of her pubic hair, causing her breath to catch in her throat. I undo the button on her jeans with my teeth before grasping the tab of the zipper between them and pulling it down. 

Staring up her body, I meet her eyes and lick a stripe from the top of her panties to her belly button. She buries her fingers in my hair. A breathy "Evan" has me suppressing a smirk. I don't claim to be the world's best lover but I do take pride in bringing pleasure to my partner.

With a wiggle of her hips, we get her jeans and panties off and I don't even try to fight the urge to press her thighs open wide so I can flick my tongue against her, shuddering as her taste explodes over my taste buds.

She shivers and tightens her grip on my hair. "Evan, please!" she begs, tugging slightly to get my attention.

Kissing her inner thigh, I rise up onto my knees so I can undo my own jeans and shove them and my boxers down and off. I toss them aside then reach for them again as I remember I'm gonna need the condom in my pocket.

"Just what kind of girl do you think I am, Major?" Astra demands, her glare losing some of its heat with her lying there naked as the day she was born while waiting for me to ravish her.

I chuckle lightly and lean down to press my lips to hers. "I think you're the kind who would prefer if her soon to be lover was to make sure she didn't get pregnant."

"And you would be correct, Sir!" We share a laugh at the inside joke.

Tearing the foil wrapper open, I roll the condom down my length, making sure to pinch the tip first. Then bracing myself on one hand next to her head, I line up with her entrance and slowly press inside and it's even better than I had imagined it would be.

She gasps softly, her back arching slightly and wraps her arms and legs around me with her ankles locked beneath my ass.

Lowering myself to my forearms, I thread my fingers in her hair and holding her gaze, begin to slowly move. She bites her lower lip, lifting her hips to meet each of my thrusts, urging me to go faster. But I still want to take my time. Our first time should not be rushed, in spite of what I said back in our cell. We can save the fast and furious fucking for later.

I run the tip of my tongue along her lower lip and she opens her mouth, inviting me to deepen the kiss. I find I'm not in the mood to give into her demands tonight and so I only nibble on her lips. She makes a frustrated sound in the back of her throat but doesn't try to deepen the kiss herself.

Slowly, I quicken my pace, watching the flush of arousal stain Astra's cheeks. Her mouth is open as her breathing increases until she's panting. The green of her eyes is just a thin ring around wide blown pupils.

I lick my thumb and, placing my hand low on her belly, rub circles on her clit. Her gasp goes straight to my dick and has my hips stuttering which in turn has her eyes rolling back in her head. 

Astra throws her head back and digs her nails into the skin of my upper back. Signals I recognize from every time we've made out over the past couple of months. 

Gritting my teeth, I rise up until I'm balanced on my fists and begin to pound into the body beneath mine. "Touch yourself for me, Love," I order.

She's slow to comply, but eventually she does and soon we're chasing each other over the edge into bliss.

I just barely manage to catch myself before I collapse on top of her, resting my head on her shoulder, I gulp in lungfuls of air, telling my body to roll over and make sure she's okay.

"Evan?" she whispers in my ear. _How the fuck is she able to speak right now?_ "You still awake up there?" There's a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Yeah. Just give me a moment." She nods her acceptance and rubs my back soothingly. 

Finally I gather the energy to move and, grasping the base of my cock to make sure the condom doesn't slip off, I pull out as slowly and gently as I can. Removing the condom as carefully as I can, I tie a knot in it and tuck it into its wrapper to make it easier to dispose of later.

Before I can get comfortable on my back with her tucked against my side, I hear my mother call out, "Evan?"

"Fuck," I mutter, thumping my head gently against the wood floor of the tree house. Rolling to the side, I lift the cloth covering the one and only window. "Yeah, Mom?" 

"Is Astra up there with you?"

"Yeah. Is that a problem?" My mother knows I'm not a virgin, being my best friend she knows all about my sexual past including when I lost my virginity. And she knows this was bound to happen at some point, seeing as how she knows I'm in love with Astra.

"What do you think?" I can just barely make out her raised eyebrow. "Y'all are still sleeping in separate rooms, ya know."

"Yeah, Mom, I know." I sigh and do my best to ignore Astra pressing kisses against my lower back.

"Y'all had best come down and get ready for bed. Tomorrow'll be here before ya know it."

"We'll be down in a few."

"Okay, then." And with that, she turns on her heel with the precision of a well trained Marine and reenters the house.

"She knows, doesn't she?" I twist to look at Astra and find her already putting her clothes back on.

"She's my best friend. Of course she knows what we were just doing." I sit up and begin pulling on my own clothes. "Does it bother you?"

"We're both adults." She tries to evade the question.

"That's not an answer, As," I gently chide her.

She sighs and sits back on her heels once she's done dressing and watches me finish putting my own clothes to rights. "It does and it doesn't." She tilts her head. "Does that make any sense?"

"It does." I open the trap door and slip through to begin making my way back into the house. "I happen to feel the same way despite the fact that she was the first person I told when I lost my virginity."

"You didn't!" Astra lets me lift her down from the last couple of boards and links her fingers with mine for the walk back to the house.

"I did."

"How'd she take the news?" Her eyes are wide with curiosity in her face.

"About how you'd expect of a woman who is her son's best friend. She was shocked because of how young I was but she knew I understood all the consequences of what I'd done." I pull her down to sit next to me again on the porch swing. "Mom has always been very open with all four of us about sex. We never got told we came from a cabbage patch or that a stork left us on the doorstep. We may not have known the entire truth from earliest age but that was only because we weren't old enough to understand the specifics." I pause to clear my throat and rub one hand along the back of my neck in embarrassment. "When my voice began changing, Mom took me aside and taught me what I needed to know about sex. I kinda wish Dad had done it but getting the info from a woman has helped in the long run because she told me how to make sure the woman in my bed was pleasured."

Astra chokes on her breath. "She told you how to please a woman?"

I chuckle humorlessly, a blush heating my face. "Yeah. She made sure I knew how to put on a condom, how to make sure it doesn't slip off and exactly where to touch a woman to get her off."

"Well, let me say on behalf of all the women you've had sex with, your mother is one hell of a smart lady."

I bite my lip to keep from laughing, and turn my gaze to stare at the ceiling of the porch. "One of my old girlfriends already told her that."

"So I'm not the first one you've told this to?"

"You are, actually. Miranda just figured it out when she saw how close Mom and I are."

"I see." We settle back in the swing, with me giving the occasional push with my foot to keep it swinging, and cuddle for several minutes in companionable silence.


	5. Chapter 5

Astra and I spend the next three weeks of our mandatory down time having sex on every available surface in my apartment; including the antique pool table Dad gave me when I graduated from the academy. Although, I don't think she appreciated my pushing the balls into the nearest pocket every time she had an orgasm. I managed to get her to six before running out of steam.

But my favorite was when I laid her out on the big oak dining table Mom helped me pick out and covered her with whipped cream and chocolate sauce with cherries marking her nipples and an unrolled handmade waffle cone covering her pubic mound. I've never had a better sundae.

Three days into our marathon of sex we ran out of condoms and Astra said we don't need to go get more. She cited the fact that she's been back on Depo-Provera long enough for it to be effective and that all our blood tests have come back clean. I have never had sex without a condom. Ever. Mostly because Mom put the fear of God into me when it came to making sure I don't get a girl pregnant. If I thought sex with Astra while wearing a condom was amazing it doesn't compare to sex with her without one.

The night before we're due back at the mountain I lay her on my bed and do every dirty nasty thing I whispered in her ear while we were held captive in that cell. This time I get her to eight before I have to stop.

After a shower that results in me giving her two more orgasms, we collapse in the bed, curled around each other and fall asleep.

The next morning is a study in frustration. I keep telling her that we can't continue once we return to work and she keeps trying to convince me to go another round. I prove my willpower's stronger than her temptation. This time. But I know I can't let my guard down for even one moment. Not if I want to keep her safe.  
= = =  
When I return to SGC I find O'Neill waiting for me in my office. "General?"

"Close the door, Major. There's something we need to talk about." My gut clenches. He must know, somehow, just what Astra and I have been doing for the past three weeks.

I do as ordered and take a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk since O'Neill's sitting in the one behind it.

"Somehow, Captain Wolfgang found out she's here."

Relief floods me upon hearing that O'Neill doesn't know that Astra and I are now involved. But hard on the heels of that is anger that people who think they know better have put her in danger. "He must have heard the scuttlebutt, Sir. Whenever a team's missing or has been captured, that's all anyone ever talks about."

O'Neill nods. "Must be. Just thought I'd put you on notice. I've told him in no uncertain terms that he's not to go anywhere near her but given how he reacted when she tried to leave him…" He finishes the sentence with a shrug.

"Permission to defend my geek, Sir."

"Absolutely. If you see him harassing her you have permission to take him down. Same goes for your men. Just so long as it is in defense of Astra."

"Of course, Sir. I have already informed my men that he's off limits unless she needs protecting."

"Good." O'Neill stands and walks around the desk. "I don't want her going anywhere on this base alone. I want at least one of you with her at all times."

"Roger that, Sir."

"Good man," he says, slapping me sharply on the shoulder as he passes on his way out of my office.

I can feel a headache starting and sit in the chair for several minutes trying to rub it away. And of course it doesn't work. I can only hope Wolfgang stays off world while we're still planet side because I do not look forward to meeting him.  
= = =  
Twenty minutes later I find Ames and Blackthorne in the mess, the remains of their half eaten lunches in front of them.

"Hey, guys." I take a seat across from them. They both shift slightly further apart from each other. I lean a bit closer and lower my voice. "You have to be more careful. I _cannot_ protect you if the wrong person even _suspects_." They look at each other and then back to me before nodding. "But that's not why I sought you out."

I sit back in my chair and scrub at my face with both hands. "I can't believe I'm saying this but-" I take a deep breath. "-her ex knows. We've been ordered to not leave her alone. Ever."

"Understood, Sir," they say in unison.

"Speaking of, where is she? I bet she hasn't eaten anything all day,” I say because I know my geek and she tends to get caught up in her work and forget about food. Although she did eat a rather hardy breakfast because I cooked one for her but that was several hours ago.

"I think she's in one of the labs with Jackson," Blackthorne responds.

"Good. Go get her. Tell her I said she still has to eat at least twice a day."

"On it, Boss." Blackthorne gets up from the table and exits the mess, leaving Ames and me staring at each other.

"You look well rested."

Ames just grins at me. "Having nearly two months off can do wonders for a body."

"It can at that," I say, nodding my head in agreement and do my level best not to think about exactly what I spent the last three weeks doing. Although, I'm sure I'm not fooling my men.

Ames' grin gets wider but before he can say anything else, Astra comes storming into the mess thoroughly pissed off at me. "Just who do you think you are, Major, that you sent Bear to 'fetch' me from my work?" She is so angry she's vibrating with it.

I stand so we can go toe to toe in this argument that is obviously about something other than my need to make sure she stays healthy. "I don't think; I _know_ that I'm your CO. And I need my team - the _whole_ team - at their best. Are you at your best if you haven't eaten all day?" 

She clamps her mouth closed so hard a muscle jumps in her jaw and I swear she growls. The sound is too similar to one she makes during sex but the way she stiffens at the voice that drawls her name has my reaction to that disappearing in a flash.

"Astra, love. Never thought I'd see you again! Come give me a hug and kiss." Every conversation in the mess stops the instant the man in the doorway speaks and several pairs of eyes turn toward him and then back to me and my team. I know that everyone is wondering what I'll do. Hell, I'm wondering that myself.

"Evan." Astra's voice is soft but it sounds loud in the silent room. She shifts half a step closer and one hand comes up to fist in the fabric of my shirt.

I watch storm clouds cross his face at her ignoring his 'request'. "Don't pretend you aren't happy to see me, Astra." 

She whimpers low in her throat and her grip tightens on my shirt. "Get behind me." I keep my voice soft and low to counter his loud harsh tone.

"I'm waiting, Astra." And now he's starting to sound angry.

Astra begins to tremble and I decide this has gone on long enough. Taking her shoulders in my hands, I forcibly move her to the side so I can push her behind me. Her ex-husband has come further into the room and is now standing just a few feet away, an angry scowl on his face.

"Excuse me, but you're standing between me and my wife."

I show how little of a threat I feel he is by taking my eyes off him to share a small smile with Ames and Blackthorne who are still sitting at the table, leaning back in their chairs with their arms crossed over their chests.

"I think you're mistaken. She's your _ex_ -wife."

"You been lying about me again, Astra?" He leans around me, trying to get a glimpse of her but she's pressed so tight against my back with both hands fisted in my jacket, that I know he can't see anything.

"Divorce is a matter of public record. Plus it's in her personnel file." I tuck my hands into my pockets to hide the fact that they're clenched white knuckle tight.

He shrugs. "I didn't agree to the divorce. I was forced to sign the papers."

I step closer and discover he's a least a couple of inches shorter than me. "After what you did to her you should feel lucky that that's all that happened." I get right in his face and drop my voice even lower. "You don't deserve to breathe the same air as her. And if I had my way, you would be six feet under."

"Um, Boss?" Ames clears his throat. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

A smirk settles on my face. "Oh, yeah. I do believe you've been ordered to steer clear of Doctor Owen by General O'Neill. So I suggest you get your ass out of here before someone decides to go and fetch him."

"I'm not scared of you."

"You should be." O'Neill's voice cuts through the tension in the room and the sound of every chair scraping back as the people sitting in them jump to their feet is extremely loud. "You've been given an order by two superior officers, Captain. I suggest you obey it. Now."

He leans to the side, again trying to see Astra. "This isn't over, Astra. Remember who you belong to." He then turns on his heel and marches from the room. "I wasn't all that hungry anyway." And now he sounds like a petulant child trying to make people think it was his own idea to leave.

"Major, have your team bring their lunch to the briefing room. Your dial-out has been pushed up to an hour from now."

"Yes, Sir." I nod in O'Neill's direction. He nods back and turns to follow Wolfgang down the hall.

Keeping my eyes on the now empty doorway, I say, "Ames, you and Blackthorne see if the kitchen staff will pack us some food. Astra and I'll meet you in the briefing room in twenty minutes."

"Sure thing, Boss." I see the two of them head for the chow line from the corner of my eye.

Reaching behind me, I take a hold of one of Astra's hands. "C'mon. Let's get out of here." But when I step forward she doesn't follow. I turn to see why and find her eyes impossibly wide with terror and fine tremors shaking her body. That son of a bitch has terrified her so much that she's frozen in place.

I step in close and whisper in her ear, "You will walk from this room on your own. You will not let that bastard win by showing even an ounce of weakness." She looks up at me. "I know that every man and woman in this room has your back, but he will win if you don't walk from here like he has no power over you. Because guess what? He no longer has that power over you. You took the hardest step years ago when you walked out and divorced him." I give her a small encouraging smile. "This is nothing compared to recovering from his attack. So, c'mon,-" I flick my head in the direction of the door. "-you can do this." 

I step to the side, and with one hand on the small of her back, finally get her to put one foot in front of the other and walk from the room. A table full of Marines near the door snaps to attention when she draws near and I'm sure they would have saluted if we had been outside.

Once we've turned the corner and are no longer in view of the mess, I gently push her into the nearest room. Luckily it's an empty office. I manage to get a chair under her just in time for her knees to give out. Then her eyes begin to roll up and I know she's on the verge of fainting. Shoving her head between her knees, I pull her hair off the back of her neck and attempt to cool her off by fanning her overheated skin with my hand since I don't have any cold water and I don't want to leave her long enough to get some.

"Just breathe easy, now. Deep in through your nose, out slowly through your mouth." I try and coach her but I'm not sure how successful I am.

Eventually she pushes on my hip to get me to step back so she can sit up. "What just happened?"

I crouch down in front of her and take her still trembling hands in mine. "You just proved that your ex no longer has any power over you."

"Bull." She clenches her jaw but her lower lip still quivers the slightest bit. "I hid behind you."

"But you walked from that room on your own."

Her breath catches in her throat on a tiny gasp and her eyes close as twin tears slide down her cheeks. "How-?" Her voice breaks, she clears her throat and tries again. "How is he here?"

"Hayes says he has some useful skill."

Her eyes snap open. "Again I call bull. He has no skills."

Now that's surprising. "But you said he was assigned to the Embassy in London."

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah but he didn't _do_ anything. He took pride in informing me that he's… what did he call it? Rear… something." She shakes her head.

"Rear echelon?" 

She nods. "Yeah, that's it. What's it mean?"

"It means he's a glorified paper pusher. He never gets near the fighting."

Suddenly her brow wrinkles in a frown and her eyes narrow on my face. "How did you know that Hayes said Dieter has a special skill?" I can see my demise in her eyes and know this is gonna take some explaining, so I settle on my knees in an effort to save my thigh muscles. "How long have you known he's here?"

"You have to understand-" I try to explain but she talks over me.

"Oh, my God!" She jumps to her feet and paces away from me, her hands fisted in her hair. "You've known from the very beginning, haven't you?"

"Not the very beginning, no." She spins to glare at me. "Since after your first time in the gun range."

"When you kicked me off your team." 

I nod. "I was informed that my team was handpicked to help keep you safe."

"So what you're saying is that Jack told you who to pick for your team?"

"Not exactly. Jackson picked you and O'Neill picked Blackthorne and me. And of course I picked Ames, so yeah; I guess you can say that he picked the team."

"And it was all just to protect me?"

"Of course. What your ex did is inexcusable. No one deserves to be treated that way. Ever. Not even him. And the fact that he was able to get away with it really doesn't sit well with the majority of men who treat women the way they deserve to be treated." I step closer and tilt her chin up so I can look into her beautiful green eyes. "Scum like him give good guys like me a very bad name and I, for one, am tired of having to prove myself to the woman I love who was treated poorly by the likes of him."

"You've more than proved yourself, Major." Her voice is whisper soft and has something warm and soft - something I've never felt before - unfurling deep in my belly. 

She leans up on her toes but before her lips can touch mine, I pull away. "We can't. Not here."

"Evan,-" Whatever she was going to say is interrupted by O'Neill opening the door.

"There you two are. You're late for your briefing."

"She knows, Sir."

"What, that he's here? Yeah, I'm aware of that seeing as how I just prevented you from stooping to his level."

"No. She _knows_."

"How could you, Jack!?" Astra stomps her foot. I knew she was capable of it but I never thought she'd actually do it.

He steps into the room and places one hand on her shoulder. "I did it to protect you, As."

"By keeping this from me? How is that protecting me?"

O'Neill glances over at me. "If you didn't know he was here then you wouldn't have to fear running into him."

"Oh, really? How were you going to make that happen?"

"By having you off-world when he was planet-side and vise versa."

"Then how in the hell did he manage to ambush me in the mess?"

"He was supposed to dial out this morning before you arrived back but a quick check of the planet showed that weather conditions are currently unsafe for the team." He returns his gaze to her. "When I told him that the mission had been canceled he said, and I quote, 'That's perfect. I heard my wife is here. I can't wait to reunite with her.' That's when I told him he was to leave the base and not come back until he was called in."

"Well, he disobeyed that order." Astra is understandably angry and letting it show.

"Yeah, I know. And he'll be dealt with accordingly."

"Then why are we being punished by being sent off-world?" I've never seen anyone argue with O'Neill like Astra is right now.

"Major, care to answer that one?"

Astra turns her narrow-eyed gaze on me. I clear my throat. "I meant what I said that day all those months ago." O'Neill's head whips around toward me and his glare has me swallowing thickly. "I was watching over her while she bathed and she took off her shirt before I could turn around. The scar is rather noticeable even under the butterfly tattoo."

"So what, exactly, did you say?"

Turning to face Astra, attempting to forget O'Neill's presence, I say again, "I would willingly, happily, kill the son of a bitch who tried to kill you." I can see understanding dawn in her eyes; she _knows_ I would risk my freedom, and career, to make sure he never hurts her again. And _that's_ why O'Neill has moved up our dial-out.

"Okay." Her voice is super soft, almost as if she's afraid that by speaking in a normal tone it'll set me off. "Okay. Now what?" She turns back to O'Neill.

"Now, you get your ass to the briefing room and get ready to go through the gate, that's what."

With a nod and a small smile, Astra turns and heads for the briefing room. O'Neill stops me from following with a hand on my arm. "You and me, we're gonna have a serious conversation when you get back." I've never seen him this serious and I know that I'm in deep and that there'll be no way out.

I nod. "Yes, Sir." With a heavy heart because I know what he wants to talk about, I follow after Astra.

In the briefing room, Astra sits between Ames and Blackthorne and I sit at the head of the table with Ames on my right. My hunch that O'Neill will toss us a super easy mission our first time back proves correct: the planet we're going to is used as a training site for first time gaters, unless they're with a team of experienced travelers. And so we're in and out of the briefing in under twenty minutes.

In the locker room, I notice Astra's fingers fumbling with her tack vest so I brush her hands aside and finish closing it for her. 

"I'm always even more nervous going through the gate the first time after being captured," she says, her voice wavering the tiniest bit.

"I know what you mean." Ames' response surprises me. His file didn't mention anything about him having ever been captured.

"Didn't know you'd been captured before." The concern is evident in Blackthorne's voice but I can spin it as the concern for a team mate.

"Yeah. Wasn't for very long; just a couple of days. But it left an impression. Took longer than I care to admit for me to be comfortable with going on missions again."

"What about you, Evan?" Astra tugs on my gun belt and my dick twitches.

I step back out of her reach and ignore her pout. "My longest time held captive was here on Earth." All three of them gasp in surprise. "Yeah. When I was stationed in Afghanistan. My unit and I were on a deep field mission for six months so my mother wasn't expecting to hear from me. And yes, that means she doesn't know. It was four months before I was rescued."

"Oh, Evan." Astra takes my face in her hands. Wrapping my hands around her wrists, I pull her hands away.

"I don't remember much, they beat me rather severely that first day and the doctors think I was beaten almost daily. I've been told I'm lucky I didn't end up with amnesia or even short term memory issues."

Astra stands up on her toes and presses her lips to mine. I can't help but respond and using my grip on her wrists, I pull her in closer and deepen the kiss. One of us moans and it breaks the spell. I pull back while at the same time pushing her away.

I glance over to the other side of the locker room where Ames and Blackthorne are and find them with their backs turned, examining one of the lockers. Their conversation pulls a chuckle from me.

"Yep, you're right. That sure is General O'Neill's locker." Blackthorne points at O'Neill's name plate on the door of the locker.

"Yep. The Old Man used to be one of us."

"Sure did. Amazing that it's still here."

"Well, he _does_ still go off-world at times."

"Yeah?"

Ames nods. "Yep."

"Thanks, guys."

They turn to face us, surprise on their faces. "Would you look at that, Johan?" Blackthorne smacks Ames on the arm with the back of his hand. "The Major and the Doc are still here. Did you know they hadn't left yet?"

"No. I thought they'd gown bored of our fangirling over General O'Neill's locker and left already."

"Funny, guys. Very funny."

"Who's being funny?" Ames looks over at Blackthorne and they both shrug.

Astra pulls my attention back to her by saying, "Family, Evan."

"Family?" I look between the three of them.

"Family," all three of them say in unison.

I chuckle. "Family," I mutter one more time. "Crazy as y'all are, I guess we really are a family after what we’ve been through recently." We share a smile and begin to file out of the locker room with Astra leading the way.

We're almost to the gateroom when Astra turns to look over her shoulder at me. "Evan?"

I have a pretty good idea what she's asking and I have to nip this in the bud right here and now. "No."

"You don't even know what I was going to say." She sticks her lower lip out.

"I know how that brain of yours works so I can guess and the answer is still no."

She huffs and flounces into the gateroom ahead of us. Feeling a headache coming on, I sigh deeply and take my place next to her behind the line at the foot of the ramp. Ames and Blackthorne take their places to my right, exchanging worried glances.

 _"Major, is your team ready?"_ O'Neill doesn't usually watch a team leave, not even one that has had the kind of trauma mine has.

I turn to look up at the window into the control room, I can just barely make out his figure standing to what I know is Walter's left. "Yes, Sir, General."

_"Very good. Dial it up, Walter."_

I turn back to watch the gate spin as Walter dials the address for the planet we'll be spending the next several weeks on.

"Evan." Now Astra's whining and she knows I hate that more than nagging which is probably why she's doing it.

"I said no. Do not make me say it again, Princess."

_"Chevron seven locked. Gate engaged. Your team is clear to step through, Major. Be careful."_

"You're just a big old meanie head," she says, stomping up the ramp and through the gate in full brat mode. This is going to be a fun few weeks.

"Let's go." I motion for Ames and Blackthorne to follow me up the ramp. Just before I reach the gate, O'Neill calls my name. "Sir?" I turn back to look at him. He doesn't say anything else, but he doesn't need to. I nod my understanding. "Understood, Sir." As I turn to step through the gate, I see Ames and Blackthorne share a confused look and shrug. I could enlighten them but I decide not to. At least not yet.

When the gate spits us out, Astra is already in full rant mode. "What took you three so long? You were right behind me!"

"Calm down, Princess." I walk right past her and over to the MALP.

"Stop calling me Princess!" Oh, ho. She's in a mood alright.

I spin on my heel and get right in her face. "Then stop acting like one!" I'm sick and tired of her entitled attitude.

"I think it's a bit deserving right now, don't you? I thought something had gone wrong and that I'd be stuck here until Jack could get the Tok'ra to come get me."

"O'Neill had one last bit of instruction for me, that's all." I give in to temptation and reach out to cup her cheek in my hand. "I'm sorry if we scared you."

Her eyes close and she tilts her head to lean a bit on my hand. "That's okay." Her eyes snap open, the green depths blazing with a hint of anger. "Just don't do it again."

"Yes, Dear," I whisper, forgetting our audience and brushing my lips to hers.

Someone coughs and I pull back, clearing my throat. "Right. Sorry." I rub one hand along the back of my neck. "Ames, you and Blackthorne get the camp set up. Astra, come with me to collect firewood."

"Collect firewood, right," Blackthorne mumbles under his breath with a hint of a laugh. "Is that what they're calling it these days?" Ames obviously shares his amusement, judging by the grin on his face. I just roll my eyes and shake my head before leading Astra from the clearing.

"Evan." It's obvious that Astra's not going to give up; and since this is a conversation we should have had several days ago, or at least this morning, I decide we might as well have it now. Just not _here_.

"No, Astra." I use my commander's voice hoping she'll take the hint but knowing she'll more than likely ignore it.

"But…" Stubborn woman. If I didn't love her so much…

Stepping up closer, I drop my voice. "Not. Here." Having gotten, more or less, what she wanted, she nods and bats her eyelashes at me. "Start walking." I point off into the tree line. She spins on her heel and marches off in the direction I pointed. 

"Good luck, Sir." I turn to find both Ames and Blackthorne looking at me like I'm going to my execution. "Try and not kill her. Might look bad on your eval." They both nod.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind." With a resigned sigh, I start off after the woman I love and the only one I'm not related to that can irritate me to no end.

I find Astra waiting for me just a few paces inside the tree line. "Now?" How'd I know she was going to ask that? I just shake my head and turn her around while pointing over her shoulder. She huffs but starts walking again.

The forest floor slopes gently upward and once we're near the top I stop and look around. We're far enough away from camp that I can't hear the other two members of my team talking but can still hear the ringing of the hammer they're using to drive the stakes into the ground.

Deciding we've gone far enough, I pull her to a stop with one hand on her arm that I then use to spin her into the nearest tree. Unclipping my P90 from the front of my flak vest, I set it against the trunk of the tree she's leaning against before taking her mouth in an extremely possessive kiss.

She moans into my mouth and gives back as good as she's getting. Wrapping her right leg around my left, she starts rocking her hips against me. If I'm not careful she'll climax with little to no help from me and that just won't do.

In an effort to slow things down, just a little, I push her back far enough that she can't get very much friction; an act she does not like. At. All. Judging by the noise she makes in the back of her throat. I placate her a bit by quickly unhooking her flak vest so I can pull her shirt out of her pants and slide my hand under it. 

She shivers at the first touch of my fingers against her skin. Trailing my hand in a gentle caress, I follow the curve of her ribcage up to her breast. Cupping my hand over the firm flesh, I squeeze a bit and trace the faint scar that I know mars the upper swell of her otherwise perfect skin. Anger bubbles up at this reminder that some asshole didn't appreciate her properly but I shove it back down because it has no place here. 

She whimpers low in her throat and arches her back, silently begging me to do more. I squeeze a bit harder causing a shiver to course through her. One of the many things I learned about her over the past three weeks is that she likes it rough; likes it when I leave bruises.

Turning my hand, I slip my fingers into the cup of her bra and lift her breast out. She moans at the feel of my calluses on her nipple. Another thing I discovered: she _loves_ the feel of my calluses scraping against her nipples. I press so that her breast is crushed between my hand and her chest wall and rub my palm in a circle, making sure to catch the large callus on the pad at the base of my pointer finger on her nipple. Once her nipple is standing at attention, I pinch and twist it while slowly upping the pressure until she fists my hair and tugs.

Breaking the kiss, I lean back and stare at her face, watching as she gulps air into her lungs and licks her lips. "I need more." Her voice is thick with her arousal and goes straight to my dick, making it twitch in my pants.

I shake my head. "You'll take what I give you." Something flashes in her eyes at my words and I instantly regret them.

Until her cheeks become even more flushed and I realize that she's getting even more turned on. "You like when I'm forceful?"

She nods. "You're not like this often. But when you are…" A shiver skates down her spine and has the caveman inside me sitting up and taking notice that my woman likes when I take charge.

"Good to know." I wrap my free hand around her right hip and tug her closer so I can take possession of her mouth again. She all but melts into me, a needy moan escaping her throat.

As much as I like playing with her breast, I need to move this along. I still need to tell her we're never doing this again; at least not while on a mission and feel like she'll be more receptive to it once I've gotten her off a time or ten.

I run the backs of my fingers down her stomach to the waistband of her pants where I make quick work of the buttons of her fly. Slipping my hand inside, I curl my fingers up to find her already wet and ready. "God, Astra! You're already wet."

She bites her lip. "Always am when you're near."

And now my inner caveman is howling in excitement at the knowledge that just my presence is enough to get her going.

I spread her open with two fingers and tease her opening with a third. She whimpers and tries to take my finger inside. She pleads with her eyes for me to stop teasing and get on with breaking her apart.

I slowly slide three fingers into her, pulling a gasp of surprise from her and then shoving her over the edge when my questing fingers find her sweet spot.

"That's one." I place a gentle kiss to the corner of her jaw.

She groans. "Please don't count them."

"Very well," I concede, knowing that I won't be able to _not_ count them.

Over the past three weeks I learned exactly how to get her to come quickly and I employ each and every technique here and now. The move that gets me the most orgasms (four) is stretching her with my fingers while rubbing lightly on her clit. If we had the time, and privacy, to do this proper (naked) I'd suck on that little nub while fingering her. That got me the most orgasms (ten) over the past three weeks.

Just as I start preparing her for number nine, she fumbles with the buttons on the fly of my pants before pulling my erection out and stroking it just how I like it. It now becomes a contest to see who'll orgasm next.

I can feel the tremors in her legs signaling that she's close when I feel the tell-tale tingle at the base of my spine that heralds mine. I have just enough presence of mind to shove her hand, and my dick, down toward the ground so that I come all over the ground and base of the tree instead of all over our clothes.

She's still stroking me through my aftershocks when number nine rolls over her so gently I'm not quite sure it even happened but the sigh she gives after is the one that usually means she's done. But I refuse to accept that and so force _one_ more.

This one takes her completely by surprise and is the biggest I've ever gotten from her. Astra's not normally a screamer but this one is so strong that I muffle her shout of pleasure with my kiss. "Ten." I can't help but smugly inform her of the number.

"Hate you so much," she mutters, tucking me back into my pants.

"Hate you too." I pull my hand out of her pants and lick my fingers clean while keeping my gaze locked with hers.

She shudders and licks her lips. "That shouldn't be as hot as it is."

I grin at her before leaning in and kissing her one last time. This time when I pull back I also step back out of reach. "We cannot do that anymore."

"What? Ever?" The shocked expression on her face would be funny at any other time.

I'm sorely tempted to say yes but I can't; I need her like I need oxygen to breathe. "Not while we're on the clock."

She breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I was afraid you were breaking up with me."

I just laugh. "Couldn't even if I wanted to." I step closer so I can whisper in her ear. "I am so deeply in love with you that not being with you would be like cutting off my arm."

She gives me a very feminine grin because of course I'm just stroking her ego. "Good to know I'm not the only one."

Since I'm obviously going to Hell I decide to enjoy it and so I glance around despite knowing that we are very much alone before taking her hands in mine. "Astra Fleur Owen, would you do me the great honor of marrying me?"

I've managed to render her speechless for several heartbeats. Just as I'm starting to worry that she's gonna turn me down she smiles and tears drip down her face. "Yes! Oh, Evan, a hundred times yes!" She throws herself into my arms and kisses me. 

I return the kiss before setting her down and putting space between us. "We'll need to keep this our secret for now. Okay?"

The look she gives me says she's calling my intelligence into question. "Well, duh!"

"As soon as we get back to Earth I'll get you a ring."

"Oooh, can I help pick it out?"

"I already actually have one. It's just in a safety deposit box."

"A family heirloom?"

"Yeah, my Grandma Grace's ring. But I'll get you any wedding band you want."

"I want matching bands."

"Matching it is, then."

"We should probably start collecting firewood." She heaves a huge sigh and begins picking up small branches.

"There's something else you should know." That brings her up short. She stops and looks at me over her shoulder. "I think O'Neill knows about the past three weeks."

She turns to face me, fear of discovery clear on her face. "Why do you say that?"

I pick up my P90 and reattach it to my flak vest before picking up some branches and adding them to her pile. "After you left that office this morning he stopped me from following and said we, him and I, need to have a serious talk when we, our team, get back. And then before I stepped through the gate he gave me a look that clearly said he's onto us, you and me, after that little exchange in the gateroom."

"Is that why you proposed?" I can see storm clouds building in her eyes and know that my answer had better be a good one.

Luckily I don't have to lie. "No. I was planning on proposing eventually, just not sure when that would have been."

"So why now?"

I shrug. "I decided to not wait any longer. Besides, this way when O'Neill gives me his ultimatum I can tell him that we've already made our decision."

Her brows lower in a frown. "What do you mean by ultimatum?"

"Since it's against the rules for us to be involved I'm nearly positive he's going to tell me I can either stop sleeping with you, which - hello! - is _never_ gonna happen, or we can continue but with you on a different team."

"What happened to not being able to protect me if you can't see me?"

"I'd rather know that when we're both on Earth you'll be sleeping in my bed."

"So you'd rather continue having sex with me than keep me on your team?"

Her question confuses me so I turn to face her. "Yeah. Is that a problem?"

She shakes her head. "No." She takes a shaky breath. "Just not sure how I feel about that."

"Oh." I step in close and cup her cheek in my hand. "I'll see if O'Neill will at least let me help pick the team you transfer to."

"You'll have to tell them about Dieter, won't you?"

"More than likely. Is that a problem?"

"No. I'm sure most people know by now, anyway. He wasn't exactly subtle when he confronted us in the mess."

"Yeah, that was kinda stupid of him to do that in front of all those witnesses. Especially since he couldn't be assured that they wouldn't try and defend you."

"Yeah, well, no one ever accused him of being smart," she mutters with a wry twist of her lips.

"It'll be fine."

"God, I hope so." The wistful tone of her voice echoes my thoughts exactly.  
= = =  
I force us to pretend this is a regular mission for the rest of the week with watch schedules, having Ames, Blackthorne and myself walking around with our P90s attached to our flak vests and even going so far as to have Astra actually examine the ruins, despite the fact that she can recite the text from memory.

When I tell her to translate it into one of the numerous languages she knows she curses me in one of the few I know. I can hardly believe I let her kiss me with that filthy mouth of hers.

By the end of the week it's obvious that no one cares to maintain appearances so I mentally throw my hands up and surrender to the inevitable. I tell Ames and Blackthorne that I don't want to see anything that could be considered conduct unbecoming and inform Astra that out of respect for the other two members of our team we have to keep all displays of affection behind the nylon walls of our tent. She agrees so quickly I'm in danger of getting whiplash.

That first night in our tent I swear to myself that all I'll allow to happen is some making out but she has other ideas, per usual.

While keeping me distracted by sucking on my tongue, she undoes my fly and slips her hand inside to stroke me to full hardness.

I break the kiss and push her back as far as the tiny space allows. "Astra…" My thoughts are derailed by her thumbing the slit. "Ahhh." Already my breath is coming in huge gulping pants. "We…can't…"

"But you said…" She leans over and whispers in my ear some of the dirtier things I've told her I want to do to her. "Besides, Bear and Johann are too busy to take notice."

"Be that as it may…" I grit my teeth when she squeezes the base of my dick effectively deflating me a little bit. "We can't. Not here." She stops all further protests with her tongue in my mouth.

"Please, Evan." I've never been able to resist that tone from her. "It's been so long!"

Right, because a week is so fucking long. "You are gonna be the death of me, woman!" She just grins at me. 

With a soft growl, I flip her onto her right side and spoon up behind her. I nibble on her earlobe while popping the buttons on her BDUs so I can slip my hand inside. She whines when I tease her like I did last week in the woods. "Ev…" she begs, trying to take more of my fingers inside.

I nip a tad harder in warning before slowly sliding three fingers up inside while circling her clit with my thumb. Her head drops back to rest on my shoulder, leaving her neck exposed to my lips and teeth. Just when I begin to feel the tremors that signal she's about to come apart, I soften my touch until she's no longer so close to coming. She groans her displeasure but I don't let it deter me. If anything I use it as inspiration to keep her hovering for as long as I can stand it.

"Please…" She has her right hand fisted in the sleeping bags under us and the left fisted in my hair. 

Each time she gets close and I stop until she's no longer on the edge and she tugs hard as if that'll make me let her come. 

"Not yet, Princess," I murmur against the skin of her neck. "You asked for this. Remember that."

"I never asked for THIS!" Talking kept me distracted enough that she was able to have an orgasm.

I don't let it stop me, though. Teasing her has become my new favorite pastime. "Let's see how long we can go this time."

She shivers at my words. "Please stop teasing. Please, Evan."

"What'll you do for me if I give you what you want?" At this point I'd take almost anything, hell I'd probably _give_ her anything she asked for, to push our pants aside and slide into her moist heat.

"Anything, Evan. Please!"

"Behave."

She nods. "Yes, I'll behave."

I push her pants down as far as I can without taking them off since that would require me to sit up and then lift her left leg and slide into her. We both sigh in contentment once I'm settled balls deep.

"So good. So fucking good." I can't thrust the way I like at this angle but just being inside her is enough.

"Oh, Evan." She reaches down and rubs her clit and I do something I've never done but have always wanted to: I watch her pleasure herself. She changes the direction of the circles after every three or four and soon she's whimpering and her inner muscles are squeezing me until I climax as well. I muffle my cry of pleasure against her shoulder and tighten my grip on her thigh.

As I drift off to sleep I can't help but think that I am _so_ going to Hell for giving into the temptation that is Astra Owen.  
= = =  
Three weeks later during the daily check-in O'Neill tells me, _"I've got it all taken care of, Major. You and your team are cleared to return first thing in the morning."_

"Understood, Sir."

 _"Major?"_ he calls me back when I go to step away from the camera on the MALP.

"Sir?"

_"I haven't forgotten."_

_And he thinks I have?_ "Neither have I, Sir."

_"I'm to be your third stop."_

"Um, that'd actually be the fourth stop."

_"Fourth?"_

"Yeah. Medical, shower and debrief." I count them off on my fingers, knowing he can see me even if I can't see him.

 _"Right. Fourth."_ There's a pause and then a whispered conversation, _"See you tomorrow, Major. O'Neill out."_

I blow out a frustrated breath when the gate disengages. Turning, I find my team staring at me.

"We're going back?" Astra's looking a bit wild around the eyes.

I step to where she's standing and wrap my arms around her. "Yeah. But it'll be fine. If O'Neill's calling us back it must mean he's taken care of that asshole."

She looks up at me, her eyes wide with fear and I silently promise to do everything within my power to make sure she never feels like this ever again. "Are you positive?"

"As, he sent us here an hour early to get you away from that… I can't think of an appropriate word."

"Major?" Blackthorne steps forward. "A word?" I frown over Astra's head at him. "Just us three?"

Astra rears back and glares at him. "Bear Blackthorne. Just what are you saying here? Trying to keep secrets from me?"

He swallows thickly. "No, ma'am, it's just…" His voice trails off and he gives me a pleading look.

"Give us a moment, please, Astra. If I feel you should know, I'll tell you. Okay?" I can tell she's still not happy but she nods and walks over to the log she claimed as hers when we first arrived. "Okay, Corporal, what is it?"

The two of them share a look before Ames takes a deep breath. "We've been thinking, Sir, and we think that O'Neill staged the confrontation in the mess."

"Why would he do that? Especially since he knew how Astra would react."

"We think that's exactly why he did it," Blackthorne says. "Well, that and to give him a reason to tell Hayes to shove it and have her ex arrested and actually convicted this time."

I turn to gaze thoughtfully in Astra's direction. What they say makes sense. It does sound like something O'Neill would do. "What exactly are you saying? And what do you want me to do with this information?"

They look at each other again and it's obvious they didn't spend all their time alone in their tent fucking each other. Ames shrugs. "Just thought we should make you aware of the fact that O'Neill just might have had an ulterior motive behind putting Astra on our team."

"You do realize that our team was created just for her safety, right?" They both nod at my question.

"But he picked us for a reason, Sir. And we felt you should know."

I can feel a headache building. "Yeah, I'm aware. He thought he could trust me to not fall for her. How wrong he was."

"What's gonna happen to us now, Sir?" Blackthorne looks a bit worried.

"Well, since Astra and I are engaged and the threat of her ex has been neutralized, he'll more than likely move her back to what she was doing before Hayes tried to butt in."

"And our team?"

"Will get a new geek. Preferably one with a rank and a significant other."

The look they share this time tells me exactly what they think of that. "What?"

"Nothing, Sir."

"Except we'd rather have Astra." 

"I would, too but you know the rules. Besides, now that the threat to Astra has been removed, I have a feeling O'Neill will want her back doing research with Jackson."

"You know we have your back, right?" Ames asks with a pointed look.

"Yeah, I know. And y'all have mine." The three of us share a smile before I join Astra on her log where I tell her what Ames and Blackthorne are starting to suspect about the confrontation with her ex. She happens to agree and the look on her face makes me glad I'm not Jack O'Neill.

That night I insist we go back to pretending this is a regular mission with watch rotations and everything that entails. To say that Astra isn't happy with my decision is a major understatement.

The next morning none of us even want to think about breakfast, we're in that much of a hurry to get home. So we just break camp at first light and head back to SGC.

If O'Neill hadn't already warned me that he and I are in need of a serious conversation, I'd wonder what was going on due to him seeing us off and now being present when we return. As I walk down the ramp I make eye contact with him and see everything I need to know there in his eyes. And yet I'm still holding out hope that I'm wrong; that we're all wrong and he doesn't have a clue about Astra and me. And yet, I know he must because despite what most people think Jack O'Neill is neither stupid nor oblivious. He wouldn't currently have a star on his shoulder if he was either of those things.

After what has to be the quickest post-op check-up in history, I linger over my shower. I'm not ready to face the wrath of Jack O'Neill and most definitely not ready to give up having Astra on my team. The water's gone cold by the time Ames and Blackthorne appear to pull me out from under the spray.

"You think stalling will make O'Neill change his mind?" Ames asks, tossing me a towel.

"No but it will delay when I have to deal with this."

Blackthorne mutters something in his native language. "You're an idiot, Sir." He manages to say it with a lot of respect.

"Yeah, I know." I finish getting dressed, then follow them from the locker room to the war room where O'Neill's waiting to seal my fate with a few simple words.

Astra's already seated in a chair two down from where I normally sit. Ames sits between us and Blackthorne sits on my left.

"Okay, who wants to begin the most boring debrief in history?" O'Neill looks at us each in turn. "Corporal?" 

Blackthorne clears his throat. "Um, well, we arrived on the planet to find it quiet, except for the sounds of birds and insects. Lorne had Ames and I set camp while him and Astra went to collect firewood. Then yesterday you told us to come home."

"Captain? Anything to add?"

Ames shakes his head. "No, Sir."

"Astra?" She, too, shakes her head. "Major?" I shake my head as well. "Well, okay then. You're dismissed." We all start to stand. "Not you, Major." I sit back down and Astra does the same. "You were dismissed, Astra."

"I'm aware, Jack. Evan has told me that you're going to be speaking to him about something important and if it's what we think it is, it concerns me too so I'd like to be present."

O'Neill takes the seat on Astra's right and leans close, lowering his voice so that I can't hear what he's saying. But the look Astra throws me has me fearing for my safety.

When he sits back she gives a nod, gets up and walks from the room leaving me alone with the one man who has the power to destroy my future with just one word.

He leans back in the chair and balances the ankle of his right foot on his left knee. "So, Major, it has been brought to my attention that you are involved in an inappropriate relationship with someone under your command." I rest my elbows on the arms of the chair I'm sitting in and keep my mouth shut. I know I proposed when I did for this very reason but I find I don't want to confirm or deny unless asked a direct question. "Nothing? Really? Huh. Thought you were more honorable than that." He leans forward and pushes the chairs between us out of the way so he can scoot his chair closer. "You will cease and desist from your relationship with Dr. Owen. Am I clear?"

"No, Sir."

His brows lower in a frown. "Excuse me? Did you just refuse a direct order?"

"Respectfully, yes, Sir."

"You can't do that." His voice has taken on a deep timber that I know instinctively means not so good things for me.

"Sure I can." I shrug. "The reason for her to be on my team is gone so she can be put back on helping Jackson with his research which is what she'd much rather be doing."

The smile that crosses O'Neill's face is pure evil. "You're right about that. She has been moved back to researching with Daniel. Only, she's not doing it here."

I frown at him. "Surely you're not sending her back out. I mean, we just got back. SOP says every team gets forty-eight hours downtime."

"No, she's not going back out." He sits back in his chair and looks smug. "She's headed to the outpost."

That has me sitting up straight in my chair. "With all due respect, Sir, but why?"

He shrugs. "Daniel wants her to help. He thinks they're close to finding the address for Atlantis. And since her Ancient is better than his…" He lets his voice trail off and raises his eyebrows.

I flop back in my chair. "When does she leave, Sir?"

He looks at his watch. "Five minutes ago." He stands and walks from the room, seemingly oblivious to the destruction he's left in his wake. Only I know he's not oblivious; he knows exactly what he's done. Obviously he knew how I'd react, or rather he suspected, and he was fifteen steps ahead of me the whole time. 

I didn't even get to tell her good-bye.


End file.
